The Strawberry's Rebellion
by Zayad
Summary: When Kronos won the Second Titanomachy and assumed his divine form to recreate the world in his own image, he weakened the barrier separating dimensions. Meanwhile, during the Second Winter War, to counter Ichigo's Final Getsuga Tenshō, Aizen trapped Ichigo in a Caja Negación. Only, the weakened barrier between dimensions coupled with Ichigo's attack transported him to a new world.
1. The End of Days

"Percy, please, I-I don't have much time. Give me the knife. Kronos won't let anyone come close to his mortal spot but I can," Luke groaned as one of his blue eyes turned gold, visibly demonstrating his slipping control. His hand, extended to Percy, shook in dominance for control of the human body. "Quickly!"

Percy Jackson hesitated. How could he trust Luke after having been betrayed by him? In Percy's first year at Camp Half-Blood, the only safe haven for demigods, Luke had nearly killed by setting a venomous pit scorpion on him. For Poseidon's sake, he might have been a son of Poseidon but he was twelve at the time!

Percy internally sighed. But here Luke was, asking for a second chance. And who was Percy to deny a demigod, someone who knew the hardships of being a demigod even better than even he did, a second chance? Percy reached out and placed Annabeth's knife, handle first, in Luke's palm.

And then, the trembling stopped.

Luke grasped the knife Percy offered him and tilted his head upwards from facing the ground, and gazed at Percy with malevolent, gold eyes. A small, cruel smile broadened into a hateful grin. And then, Kronos laughed. It was a cold laugh that inspired fear and hopeless in the young demigod as if he were about to die. Which he was.

And it was that heart-stopping realization that inspired the young son of Poseidon to act. Knowing that Bessie inhabited a tank that held a sizable amount of water, Percy stumbled backwards, away from Kronos's vicious slash, and held out his hand towards the water.

Like a volcanic eruption, something Percy could say was highly unpleasant to experience, the tank holding Bessie shattered and the water, along with Bessie, moved towards him swiftly and enclosed him in the form of a sphere. Instinctively sending out various tendrils of water, Percy surrounded his possible but not-quite-there-yet girlfriend, Annabeth, his best friend, Grover, his trusty, celestial bronze sword, Riptide, and fled. Percy used his aqua-sphere like a bowling ball and rolled all the while still facing Kronos who had begun to light up like a golden firecracker.

Percy turned around and willed his aqua-sphere to roll faster while also sending several other tendril to move the collapsed statue of Hera so he could also pick up Thalia.

"Percy, what the heck's going on?" Thalia shouted at him as Percy rolled even faster, heading towards the nearest edge off Mount Olympus.

Percy ignored his cousin in favor of rolling off the edge and falling, garnering various obscenities from Thalia including "I'm gonna shove my dad's Master Bolt up your ass, Kelp for Brains!" and "You're gonna wish that Lady Artemis had turned you into a jackelope when you first met her when I'm done with you!" Also, green projectile vomit that thankfully was repulsed by his aqua-sphere.

_Huh, so Thalia doesn't like heights. Go figure_, his ADHD thought as he rapidly descended from the heavens to the fighting below. From where he was falling, Percy judged that he would fall right on a good chunk of monsters giving his other cousin from his more death-oriented side of the family, a hard time. _I hope we don't splatter on the pavement like a water balloon._

Using his aquatic powers, he willed the sphere to a durable yet malleable density. Hard enough to withstand become an artful display of blood and human flesh but soft enough that his head wouldn't jerk and give him whiplash. Well, for all of them.

_Splat! _Right after landing on a squad of monsters and crushing them into nothingness with his semi-solid aqua-sphere, the sphere popped like a bubble and wet the surrounding area including his cousin, Nico di Angelo.

"Percy? What are you doing here? Weren't you dealing with Kronos?" Nico questioned like a machine gun.

"Nico! Tell your dad to get warn the Olympians not to go to Olympus! Tell every demigod you meet to retreat. Kronos is about to assume his divine form!" Percy said breathlessly.

Nico's black eyes widened in horror before running off. Percy trudged over to Thalia who, after seeing Percy, got up from the ground.

"Kronos is about to win the war. Carry Annabeth while I carry Grover," Percy interrupted before Thalia could speak. "We have to get out of here fast before Kronos kills us all with his divine form."

The blue eyed Lieutenant of Artemis nodded breathlessly before she picked up Annabeth and slung her over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes before gesturing to Bessie. "What about him?"

Percy turned to Bessie wearily after tossing Grover over his shoulder, "Bessie? Can you erm- slither your way across?"

Bessie mooed in the affirmative.

A dark shadow flew over them before reaching Olympus and rising to the very top of the mountain and entombing the entirety of the colossal home of the gods. Black fireworks began sparkling over the gigantic box-shaped shadow.

"You five are the last. Come," The two and Bessie turned around only to discover that Hades had spoken to them.

"My mom and Paul?" Percy asked desperately.

"I have taken them too. I assume you are familiar with shadow-travel? Good, then I shall teleport you now," Hades said.

Before Percy could respond, his adrenaline exhausted itself and everything faded to black.

...

"-cy. -Sea...d. -ercy! Percy! Seaweed Brain, wake up!"

Percy's sea green eyes snapped opened while his hand instinctively sought the familiar, semi-comfortable grip of Riptide, now in his pocket in its pen form. Before he could click the pen, however, he took notice of who was talking to him.

"Annabeth? What-"

Annabeth interrupted Percy. "You fainted just before Hades took you to the Underworld through shadow travel." Annabeth sighed and ran her fingers through Percy's messy black hair. "Don't even start thinking that it's your fault that Kronos won the war, Seaweed Brain. No one, demigod or god, blames you."

Percy sat up from the comfortable bed and hugged Annabeth who began to blush and stutter incoherently. "Thanks Wise Girl, I needed that. I'll probably still have doubts but at least they won't be as bad they could be."

Finally, after a few moments more of Percy not letting her go, Annabeth finally punched him on the shoulder. "Come on, Percy, Lord Hades wants to talk to all of us."

Percy nodded and got off the bed. He looked down, discovering that he was still wearing the clothes he wore the entirety of the Battle of Manhattan. An orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt and jeans. Not exactly what would be expected in battle but at least it was comfortable. Even if there was blood and gold dust covering him. None of the blood was his, considering his skin was impenetrable thanks to the Curse of Achilles.

Soon enough, they arrived at the throne room of Hades, though how Annabeth knew how to get there, Percy had absolutely no idea, where hundreds of wounded demigods and centaurs among other allies of smaller numbers laid groaning and gasping to survive. It probably didn't help that they were all trying to survive in the realm of the dead, something very few had done in over three thousand years and that the only consistent being that flitted in and out of the Underworld was Hermes, a god.

Percy internally groaned. He really hated his ADHD. The only time he could truly focus was in battle. Of course, it was useful when he was fighting particularly difficult monsters. He looked at himself again before returning to looking at the wounded demigods. Even Annabeth was hurt. Only he remained unharmed physically. He felt a little guilty about it as if he hadn't fought hard enough.

As he and Annabeth waded through the sea of Olympian ally combatants, he received various looks. None were hateful or even angry. They were all simply sad or in some cases, even pitiful. Despite wanting to look down in shame for losing the war, he instead looked his friends and allies in the eye, simply conveying his apologies for losing the war. It was, without a doubt, even harder than fighting a Titan.

"Lord Hades," Annabeth bowed.

Percy followed suit. "Lord Uncle, I-"

"Hades. Simply call me Hades. After all this, the Olympians are no longer the rulers of the world. There is no need to address me with honorifics like Lord," Hades slumped in his throne, an arm propping up his head.

"Uh, okay...Hades," Percy said hesitantly. "Where's my mom?"

"Sleeping. She's been fending off monsters all day," Hades replied. "What a woman."

Persephone, who had appeared just behind Hades with fruits and water in the hopes of alleviating her husband's depression, heard what Hades said, and dumped everything on top of his head before leaving from where she came.

"That's a little creepy. My dad's your brother. Please don't say that...again," Percy added. Annabeth elbowed him.

Hades sighed before picking a piece of slice apple from the top of his oily hair and biting into it. Juice dripped down from his mouth, staining his battle-armor.

"What should we do now, Lor- er, Hades," Annabeth quickly amended after getting a glare from Hades.

Hades sat up straighter. A snap of his fingers rid himself of the fruits decorating him. A second snap amplified his voice so that everyone could hear him.

"Kronos has won the war. All Olympians have been captured having foolishly ignored my warning fireworks to stay away."

_So that's what those black fireworks were_, thought Percy.

"Kronos will be terraforming the land to suit his own desire. Remember, the majority of the Titans are unused to this advanced world, especially the advancements in the fields of technology and science so you can expect the most advanced technologies to be a trebuchet. That's if we're lucky and if the children of Hephaestus are as innovative as they were in the past."

"What the heck's a tre-whatever, Zombie God?" Asked a centaur.

"Idiot Party Ponies," Hades scoffed. Unfortunately, everyone heard him because of his amplified voice.

Hades coughed to cover his lapse of memory. "It will take a while for Kronos to erase the memories of the majority of mortals considering he does not know the full extent of his powers. That will take a year. I can defend my realm for a maximum of three years before I fall. All of you will have to separate across the continent if you wish to rebel against Kronos."

"Gather allies. Kronos and his brethren are incapable of erasing the minds of all mortals. There are far too many of you for him to bother with. And that will be his downfall. When Kronos reveals himself as the king of this world, those mortals will become dissenters. Those dissenters will become your allies in the rebellion to liberate this world."

"Another thing I must explain to you. Romans demigods exist. They are the children of our Roman aspects. You can find them in San Francisco Bay though by now, they will have scattered to the winds now that their invasion of Mount Othrys had failed. You must unite or all is lost. For the next year you may stay here but once Kronos has declared himself the king of the world, you must leave for that is when Kronos will attack my kingdom. After I am defeated, he will set his sights on all of you."

With those ominous words, Hades disappeared in a burst of darkness.

"Percy, what do we do now?" asked Annabeth.

All eyes turned to him.

Percy gulped before straightening himself out. "Now, we recover but later, we start searching for those heroic souls from two thousand years ago and search them out so they can help us train. That's the only thing we can do now."

...

Jason Grace gritted his teeth and lifted his Imperial Gold round shield to block Krios's overwhelming, overhead, two-handed strike. Then, Jason lowered his shield and within a second, struck Krios's unguarded leg. Or would have, had Krios not jumped back moments before his sword would have pierced godly flesh.

Then, Krios began to laugh outrageously. It was an irritatingly evil laugh that bordered on madness. "You were a worthy opponent, son of Zeus."

"I'm still alive," Jason pointed out.

"Not for long. Now that Saturn has assumed his divine form, MY POWER HAS INCREASED TENFOLD!" Krios began to glow.

Jason considered cursing as he charged his sword with an absurd amount of static electricity and sent it at the glowing Titan. Though the electrical blast dealt little damage, the force of the blast knocked the Titan into Kronos's black throne.

Jason ran, attempting to escape the range of Krios's explosion of divine power. Anything within that range would immediately incinerate like how a god's divine form could incinerate any demigod or mortal simply by gazing upon it.

Approaching a wall of the terrible fortress, Jason use his powers of aerokinesis to manipulate the air so he could fly above and over the wall. He flew quickly through the air, avoiding the chaos of battle occuring all across the fortress walls and in and out of the fortress as well as all the arrows sent his way and landed next to a Roman with a war horn.

"Sound the horn for retreat. Kronos has won the war," Jason ordered.

The Roman was about to tell Jason that only the praetor could tell him to do such a thing but one look at Jason's steely, serious sky blue eyes sent him trumpeting a retreat.

"Jason," Reyna had come several minutes later after the majority of Romans had retreated. "What are you doing?"

"I was fighting Krios. He told me that Saturn had assumed his divine form and then he started glowing." Jason explained. "His power is beyond belief, at least as strong as Jupiter and Neptune combined."

Reyna's eyes widened. That was absurdly powerful. "It is good that you were able to sound a retreat then. I do not believe we would have lasted much longer.

Then, the two of them heard a voice in their heads that was quite familiar to any Roman.

_"Gather all Romans to the Wolf House. Camp Jupiter has fallen."_

...

"_Getsuga Tenshō_!"

A crescent wave of black reiatsu outlined in red emanated from the tip of Ichigo Kurosaki's daito, the sword his Zanpakutō took when in Bankai mode, and struck the escaped prisoner, Aizen, full on.

Unfortunately, Aizen was in his fifth form, the final form granted to Aizen by the Hogyoku that Ichigo had dubbed Butterfly God. Even with his Hollow mask on and in Bankai mode, his attack barely scratched the immortal which was evidenced by a smirking Aizen.

Aizen had escaped his prison not soon after Ichigo had defeated the Wandenreich's Head, Yhwach, the First Quincy, with the help of his long time friend, Uryuu Ishida, who had turned against Yhwach at the last moment.

Somehow, the Hogyoku had returned to Aizen and he had used to it to create new Arrancar that were on par with the strength of the old Arrancar. Unfortunately for Aizen, he hadn't really thought about his attempted murder of Tier Harribel, the current Queen of Hueco Mundo at the time, and so a full scale war was wage between Tier or Tia to her friends and the Soul Society on one side and the Aizen on the other.

The war had been going on for eight years. In the beginning, Ichigo hadn't been allowed to participate. Instead, he had been kidnapped by Hat-n-Clogs, Yoruichi, and Tessai, though Uryuu also came, and brought Ichigo to the Dangai, again, where he was put under the harshest training possible.

In the Dangai, it was roughly two centuries worth of training. In the real world? About two years. For the first twenty-five years, Ichigo worked on his reiatsu control until one day he finally managed to revert his Zanpakutō to its unreleased state. He did this by maintaining the Dangai using his own reiatsu which Kisuke said he could maintain for millennia if he wanted.

Once he had perfected his control as much as possible, he began to learn many techniques including Bakudo and Kido which he picked up fairly quickly from Tessai, who was an amazing instructor, actual sword techniques from Kisuke, Shunpo and Hakuda techniques from Yoruichi, Quincy techniques from Uryuu and Old Man Zangetsu, Fullbring skills that he worked on by himself, and Hollow techniques from his Hollow self, Shiro though technically the last was really just manipulating Cero and Bala techniques in a variety of ways.

And then, they deemed him ready to fight Aizen.

And there was the problem. He had been maintaining the Dangai for so long that he had nearly forgotten that a considerable portion of his reiatsu had been sustaining the Dangai. When he first stepped out into the Soul Society, he had been greeted by the drawn Zanpakutōs of all the Captains of the Soul Society simply because of the reiatsu he had been emitting at its lowest setting.

"Whoops," Kisuke had said. "I forgot what would happen."

Ichigo had used a Hado #4: Byakurai to puncture a hole in his beloved hat. Kisuke gave him something similar to Kenpachi's eyepatch later on that day, a silver studded earring.

"It compliments your orange hair, you know, the hair that makes bullies go after you all the time," Kisuke had told him from behind his fan.

Ichigo had used the same Hadō spell to puncture a new hole in his second hat.

It was only after six long years of fighting Hollows and Arrancars on the sands of Hueco Mundo, that Aizen had finally revealed himself.

The problem was that nothing worked from Quincy and Shinigami techniques to Fullbring and Hollow skills. So, Ichigo resolved himself to use Mugetsu to defeat Aizen.

And unknowingly walked into Aizen's trap.

As soon as Ichigo was enveloped in the black reiatsu of the Final Getsuga Tenshō, Aizen enacted his plan and threw a modified Caja Negación at Ichigo. A yellow rectangular prism enveloped the hybrid hero.

Aizen laughed. "I was waiting for you to use Mugetsu, Ichigo. Did you not think I had planned for your technique? Even after all that you've been through, the wars and battles, in the end, you are still a naïve child."

Ichigo grew angry at his words at first but then, with a deep breath, slowly calmed himself down. He was at peace with himself. In complete harmony with all his aspects, Shinigami, Hollow, Quincy, Fullbring, and Human.

"Then, Aizen. Let's see how confident you are in your trap. _Mugetsu_."

A slash of his Zanpakutō began a near godly surge of completely black reiastu that crashed into the yellow dimensional walls of the prison. Ichigo willed himself to put more and more reiastu into his final attack until for a single instance, his attack broke through dimensions and completely bifurcated the Butterfly God.

And then, the walls of the dimensional prison closed once more. The yellow walls turned black with Ichigo's reiastu and with a single pop signaling the breakdown of a barrier separating two dimensions, Ichigo Kurosaki, the Savior of Souls, disappeared.

...

**A/N: So, this will be my second priority out of a total of two stories. PJO canon pairings, most likely. Any recommendations for the orange haired hybrid hero, twenty-five years of age, if my math is correct, (right? 17+8=25 Yes, I'm correct) with two hundred years of training give or take a few years, who happens to find himself in the middle of anything and everything important even across dimensions?**

**This was actually written because I was browsing the notable few stories of the Bleach/PJO crossover kind and I really wanted to read an Ichigo in the PJO universe but would settle for an Ulquiorra in the PJO universe or even an Old Man Zangetsu traveling to the beginning of a new world in an alternate dimension where he would deal with all kinds of crazy including teaching future twin gods of archery how to wield a bow (come up with your own!) _but _realized that to get, you must first give, so I gave you this little story.**

**Go forth writer, lovers of Bleach and PJO alike, and write some stories of this crossover potential! It's kind of like a niche market, good potential but only twenty stories written so far! Go! Write!**

**Anyways, AU, obviously though you probably guessed that because Kronos won, Jason retreated from Krios, and Ichigo mysteriously (_right, "mysteriously") _disappeared from his own dimension. Of course, that'll be explained next chapter. Whenever I get around to writing it. Fantasy, because we all want to have these powers but can't, yet. Action, because there's a rebellion in the works. Adventure, because it's a Kronos-controlled/Middle-Ages reversion kind of world. Romance, because this story wouldn't be any good without it (well, it might, but I like romance in stories). Drama, because there are various trials and tribulations ahead as well as Titans being cruel, evil bastards. Spiritual, because everyone needs to have faith...in a certain hybrid hero. M rating. Children, there will be blood. There will be gore. There will be unsavory acts mentioned. You are all forewarned.**

**Is it wrong that I feel more excited about this story than my other story? Ehh, it's probably nothing.**

**Wait! Ichigo missed two years in the real world so is it really 17+6= 23? Is that his age? Damn it, I bet the Saiyans and Piccolo never had this problem with their time/space distortion technology. They had 1 day=1 year!**

**Anyways...**

**Thanks for reading!**


	2. Where the Greatest Heroes Land

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch2~

Traveling between dimensions is a fickle thing. Technically, it isn't possible for any being because the space in between dimensions is not only vaster than any single universe, it is an unstable space where even a god, an immortal creature, would be spread across that space in molecules smaller than atoms, incapable of even thought let alone action.

Of course, a god would eventually reform on the other side of the space in between universes though it would take an uncountable amount of time. The same could be said of other particular semi-immortal and immortal beings.

However, in Ichigo's case, he had used all his power to shatter his dimensional prison. He was, quite literally, trapped in an alternate dimension, a dimension fairly close to a dimension whose barriers had shattered for a single instant. For a moment, the vast emptiness in between dimensions was essentially non-existent. The only thing that remained was the uncontrollable, chaotic energies that existed.

This was easily avoided by the Caja Negación. It protected Ichigo from the ravages of dimensional traveling and endured the damage that would have been done to Ichigo himself, had he not been imprisoned in an alternate dimension shaped like a rectangular prism.

Then there was also the matter of Ichigo's usage of Mugetsu. Normally, Ichigo would have lost all his spiritual powers, which would have eventually dispersed into the air. However, in this case, Ichigo's reiatsu had only escaped for a single moment, not nearly long enough to have dispersed in the air considering Ichigo's massive reiatsu.

Perhaps three quarters of Ichigo's reiatsu had remained in the small dimensional prison along with Ichigo and with no where to go but one place. Ichigo himself. It was a painful process to reabsorb his reiatsu- one that left him unconscious and even more wounded when he arrived in a new world.

...

As everyday in the past, this day too, was a beautiful day. A sunny sky with few clouds to block its relentless yet futile purging of the ocean blue. Waves lapped at the sand shore of a well-known island that few ever reached. Truly, the gods of weather felt pity for that particular strip of land.

The island was a paradise. The main captivating sight of the island, known to all as Ogygia, was its astounding garden which was carefully tended to by its only inhabitant, the immortal daughter of Atlas, the nymph, Calypso.

And, as usual, Calypso was carefully tending to her garden, pouring her heart and soul into each and every single one of her plants, both common and uncommon, tall and short. It was her favorite thing to do, even after three thousand years of being imprisoned.

It was about noon that Calypso finally left her garden, intent on filling her grumbling stomach, that her peaceful days of star-gazing and garden-caring came to an abrupt halt.

And it all started with an explosion that shook her island as if Poseidon were angry with her and a man with the strangest colored hair that fell from the sky and landed in front of her.

...

Calypso could not deny her curiosity of the man that she had laid in her extra bed. His hair was orange of all colors and ended a little beyond his shoulders. When he had arrived, he lacked any sort of garment to cover his torso and his leggings appeared to be some longer form of a skirt. The man was heavily injured, having all sorts of gashes and cuts both deep and shallow that left him just before the edge of life and death.

With all the necessary materials, Calypso went to work. Firstly, she stripped the man of all his clothes. She blushed slightly the size of his male-only appendage and the muscles he possessed that surpassed any hero that had ever come to her island that she had tended to. She grabbed a washcloth from beside her and drained it of its excess water before cleansing the man of his (or perhaps someone else's) dried blood, considering that he was still alive and his enemies were quite possibly dead.

Afterwards, she stitched the deeper and wider cuts so that they would no longer allow blood to flow freely. Finally, she wrapped his torso and arms with white bandages so that the man's wounds would heal without the risk of infection.

Calypso rose from her chair where she had been seated for hours tending to the wounded hero carefully. She stretched her legs which had fallen asleep and left the room to eat dinner.

Once finished, she took her warm cup of half-finished cocoa with her to the entrance of her home and simply stood, gazing at the stars quietly while sipping her cup of cocoa on the chilly August air.

Calypso cursed the Olympians for bringing another hero to her island so soon after the last hero, Percy, had left her. She needed more time to heal her poor broken heart than a measly two years. Few heroes visited her island and it often took decades to recover from such horrible heartbreak each time a hero had left her after they had made a connection.

Calypso's thoughts turned over to the hero resting in her bed. She had many questions for him, the first two which she would ask would be, was orange his natural hair color and if so, did other people from his homeland have equally strange hair colors such as purple or green?

The hero certainly did not have the good looks of a god but was in no way inferior to any demigod in terms of appearance despite his peculiar orange hair. Calypso was curious as to why the Olympians had sent this man to her, especially since she had not had contact with any of them for a year.

For the next two weeks, the man remained unconscious. When she wasn't caring for her garden, eating, or observing the heavens with a cup of cocoa, she sat next to the man as if her presence would help the man heal quicker.

One day, during the first two weeks that the man had remained unconscious, Calypso, on a whim, morphed her appearance to an age closer to the man's own age. She grew several inches though even then, she only reached midway to the man's neck. Her breasts grew bigger, to a more appealing size, and her legs grew longer. Her cheekbones grew slightly more angular though they in no way made her any less attractive and in fact, only served to enhance the color of her dark almond eyes. She also grew chestnut hair a tad bit longer.

To be honest, this form was much more efficient. She could finally reach the top shelf of her kitchen though she could just as easily summon it using magic. She could also lay hands on the leaves of the tallest of plants, as she often did simply to convey her love and pride for her magnificent garden.

She most certainly did not adjust her own appearance to an age close to the age of whatever hero had landed on her island. Well, she did, but only to make the hero feel more comfortable. She never changed her appearence to fall in love with the hero who had landed on Ogygia. Not one bit. Though, it certainly didn't hurt.

...

Ichigo's groaned loudly as he slowly regained consciousness. His blurry vision slowly gained clarity as he focused on the first object that appeared in his sight. In this case, it was a woman and that woman was a vision of loveliness.

She was as equally attractive as Yoruichi and Rangiku but her attractiveness leaned more towards the homely side. As Ichigo took in her eyes, her hair, and instantly sorted the information as he was used to doing on the battlefield when classifying the various types of Hollows that Aizen had sent to ravage their war effort, he compared her to Inoue, or Orihime, as he finally began calling her during the war after a specific encounter. They both exuded a warm and kind aura though of course, the woman before him did not appear to lack the basic fundamentals of the world as Orihime did.

Of course, this comparison to a familiar face in his life in no way prevented Ichigo from instantly shooting his bandaged hand, which Ichigo noted with interest, and grasped her throat before the woman could even begin to blink. She began making choking noises as her hands futile attempted to stop Ichigo from lightly squeezing her throat. Surprise at such a violent and sudden action coupled with herself being choked made her forget about using her powers to escape his grasp.

Ichigo sat up from the bed slowly while eyeing the woman. Finally, he spoke. "You certainly aren't a Shinigami I recognize and I happen to be familiar with most of them. This also isn't one of the rooms of the Fourth Division and I should be in one of the rooms about now because know for a fact that I _cut that bastard Aizen in half!_"

Ichigo took a deep breath before focusing his entire attention on the woman. "Start speaking _before I kill you_."

It was said so matter-of-factly, so truthfully, that Calypso couldn't help but to think that he could actually kill her despite the fact that she was an immortal goddess. "Y-you landed on my island. I-I healed you."

"_She tells the truth, Ichigo. Release her. It is rude to harm the one who healed you. Simply imagine if she were Unohana_." Came the voice of his longtime mentor and friend, Zangetsu.

Abruptly, and much to Calypso's confusion, the man released her and she fell back to her seat, massaging her slightly sore throat with both her hands.

"Sorry," the man's gruff voice said to her. "The only time I see unfamiliar people is when they're trying to kill me, so I'm sorry for hurting you. You okay?"

"I'm fine, now, thank you." Calypso stood up, wanting to get away. "You must be hungry. Let me get something to eat."

When Calypso brought back a huge portion of food that was floating, Ichigo debated asking her about the strange technique before his stomach decided that food was more important currently and began to rumble loud enough for Calypso to hear, before he finally began shoveling food down his mouth politely, since he was in the presence of a woman. Calypso giggled at the loud sounds of his stomach and his forceful holding back of simply stuffing down food his throat.

Once Ichigo finally finished the excellent meal and Calypso somehow made the dishes float back to the kitchen, he finally decided to introduce himself.

"Ichigo Kurosaki," Ichigo extended his hand while mentally questioning why he had spoke his surname second when he had thought about speaking his surname first.

"Calypso," she gave him a beautiful smile. "No last name."

"Where am I?" Ichigo asked.

"My island. Ogygia."

"And where's that?"

"Everywhere and anywhere," she replied.

Ichigo frowned. "That doesn't exactly help me. I need to get back to Karakura Town so I can help with the recovery effort."

"Recovery effort?" Calypso asked curiously.

Ichigo hesitated on what to say. "There was a war with a madman that lasted seven years. Only recently has...it...ended..."

Ichigo's brown eyes widened in horror as he remembered the past events. He had killed Aizen, split him in half like cutting a piece of paper into two halves. And then, he had vanished. He remembered an intense pain like no other before blacking out and waking up here.

"_Yes, Ichigo, you are no longer in the world that you remember. Since our arrival, I have not sensed the reiatsu of any of our friends and allies._" Zangetsu said. "_It is as if the Soul Society and all Shinigami and Hollows have simply disappeared. Aizen has been killed but at the cost of our removal from the world that we knew._"

For days after their first encounter, Ichigo simply stared at the ceiling of the room blankly. His friends, his family, his allies, his lovers, all gone. He simply accepted whatever meals Calypso gave him with a thank you and ate monotonously while simply reflecting on what he could have done differently. He even ignored Zangetsu's attempts at rousing him from his depression.

Could he have prevailed against Aizen without using Mugetsu? Perhaps utilizing more powers from his mother's heritage? Learn more techniques from Zangetsu? Could his Fullbring have done anything? Could he have simply just spammed his use of the Gran Rey Cero until Aizen finally stopped regenerating wounds?

But in the end, Ichigo knew that nothing other than Mugetsu would have ended Aizen once and for all. His reiatsu had grown so vast and dense that it had bled into his human body the only time he had inhabited his body to talk to Yuzu and Karin. In that respect, he was a bit like Kenpachi. He was actually capable of utilizing his reiatsu while in his human body.

Come to think of it, he was in his spiritual form when he had been blasted into an alternate reality. Did he somehow regain a human body during the process? And what was up with Calypso? Why did she have such strange powers? Why did Ichigo sense a strange sort of power in her that was not reiatsu?

Ichigo wanted answers and perhaps, just for a while, avoid thinking about his past.

So one day, after weeks of staring blankly at the ceiling, he surprised Calypso by sitting on his bed, actually smiling at her instead of ignoring her. She smiled back, all the while fighting a flush threatening to redden her cheeks.

"Let's talk for a bit."

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch2~

**A/N: As always,**

** Thanks for reading!**


	3. To Move Forward

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch3~

Ichigo was at a loss. Greek gods existed? As in, multiple gods? Immortal gods? Gods that couldn't be killed? Gods that could control the very elements of nature?

Of course, that last one wasn't necessarily spectacular. Old Man Yamamoto controlled fire, Toshiro and Rukia controlled ice, and several other Shinigami had control, minor and major, over the elements.

It simply shocked Ichigo that after over a century of planning and plotting, Aizen had become something that some beings in this new world obtained through birth. Godhood. Immortality. However, that wasn't to say that Aizen was weak. On the contrary, he would be the most capable to defeat a god, especially after having regained his Zanpakutō, a spirit that could fool the very senses of any being.

On the other hand, these gods might know a way to go back to his own reality. And that was something Ichigo simply could not pass up even if he didn't really want to deal with gods considering his track record with the only immortal being in his reality that he had ever met- Aizen.

Ichigo nearly fell out of his seat when he realized that Calypso was far too close to him, her cute little button nose nearly touching his own nose. _Cute? Where did that come from?_

"What are you doing so near me?" Ichigo asked, bewildered at Calypso's action.

He really didn't mind it, at least not anymore. When he had turned eighteen, Yoruichi had tied him up and had practically raped him as her "birthday gift" to him. Of course, it couldn't really be considered rape when he had broken free from his chains a minute after she began and continued of his own will.

After that first time, and many more times with various other women whom Yoruichi had directed to him as a stress reliever, he had grown more confident around women. At the very least, he wasn't a prude anymore.

Calypso flicked his forehead, halting Ichigo's thoughts. "Stop ignoring me!"

Ichigo pushed the goddess away gently. "Sorry, sorry. It's just a lot to take in. Gods? The only immortal I've ever met was a man trying to take over the world. You'll forgive if I'm not exactly eager to hear about gods existing in this world."

"That's all right then. The Gods already rule over the world. They are benevolent, for the most part. They're more benevolent than their forefathers, the Titans, in any case." Calypso replied.

"You think any of them will know how to get back to my own reality?" Ichigo asked.

"Hermes is the God of travel but I doubt he can travel across realities. Athena might know how to build something that could help you get back to your own world," Calypso replied, albeit a little sadly. "She's the Goddess of wisdom among other things."

"Great. Do you know where I could find her?" Ichigo questioned.

"On Mount Olympus would be my guess. I am told it is above the Empire State Building in New York."

Ichigo groaned. "Just my luck. I don't speak English too well."

Calypso looked at him strangely. "What are you talking about? You're speaking English perfectly right now."

Ichigo frowned. "It sounds like Japanese to me. That's what I'm hearing from you too."

Calypso mirrored his expression. "I don't think the gods know about you. I can speak any language like every other god and goddess but I haven't needed to since you've understood me perfectly. Unless-" Calypso's eyes widened in surprise and fear. "Oh no!"

"What? What is it, Calypso?" Ichigo wondered what could cause the goddess to stop speaking.

"A couple years past, I had another visitor. A demigod by the name Percy Jackson. He was fighting a war against Kronos, the Titan of Time."

"Okay, what's so bad about that?"

"You have to understand, Ichigo, that the Olympians dethroned him as the ruler of the world many millennia past. His youngest child, Zeus, cut up his soul into countless of tiny pieces and threw him in Tartartus, which is essentially Hell." Calypso explained.

Ichigo grimanced as did Zangetsu within his mindscape. That sounds like it would hurt. Especially if he was still alive after that. And I've been to Hell too. Not the friendliest of places.

Calypso continued, "Recently, Kronos had begun reforming at an alarming pace. The Olympians, the majority of them, didn't really believe that Kronos was reforming until it was almost too late. If Kronos won the war, it would explain why none of the Olympians have visited me. It would mean that Kronos has won the war against the Olympians."

"And this is a bad thing because...?" Ichigo could easily tell that it was a bad thing that Kronos was the ruler of the world judging by Calypso's frightened expression. He simply didn't know why it was a bad thing.

"The first time that Kronos ruled was a horrible time...for mortals. At that time, science and technology did not exist. All the things mortals take for granted did not exist during the rule of Kronos. It was an age where the only things humans thought about was survival and how to escape the notice of the Titans. At the time, humans even lacked fire, which was only brought to them by Prometheus, early during Zeus's reign." Calypso took a deep breath. "If Kronos has won his war against the Olympians, then life as you once knew it would cease to exist. There would be no modern marvels such as steel buildings and those metal contraptions that move on wheels. For mortals, they would only desire to survive the new world."

Calypso continued her explanation. "Likely, it is that Kronos has reverted the world back to an age where the highest form of technology is the creation of metal armor. He has also, likely, created a method in which all people understand each other since he has likely not recovered the majority of his powers as a Titan. He's most likely erased the memories of most mortals so that they don't remember the old world and start and an uprising."

"That...does sound bad," Ichigo admitted. _I doubt even Aizen would done that if he ruled the world_. "But what would have happened to the Olympians?"

"They would be imprisoned in a location drastically different than their domains. For example, Zeus is the God of the skies and lightning so he would be imprisoned somewhere underwater or underground so he wouldn't be able to access his powers. They would be tortured as well and the goddesses would become the Titans' playthings." Calypso adopted a disgusted expression.

Though equally disgusted at Calypso's last statement and his expression showing that disgust, Ichigo leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Things can't ever be easy for me, can it?"

...

Ichigo laid on a sand dune. His back was against the dune as waves lapped against his feet. It was nighttime, a full moon, and Ichigo was looking at the constellations in the night sky. His Zanpakutō was in his lap though he wasn't preforming Jinzen. It was simply a comforting position in an unfamiliar world.

There were only a few constellations that he didn't recognize from his other world. For now, it looked like this world was almost exactly like his world minus the existence of Greek gods, of course.

"_It is cloudy, Ichigo_," Zangetsu told his human wielder.

"_Sorry, Zangetsu. This is just- well, I'm sure you heard what were talking about in there_," Ichigo sighed.

"_Regardless, Ichigo, abandon your fear of never being able to go back. To move forward, you must find this goddess, Athena, and hope she is capable of creating such a construct. If not, I am positive Urahara is working tirelessly to try and bring us back_." Zangetsu said.

"_I know, I know all this, Zangetsu. And for now, I'll push away my fears. So don't worry, it'll get sunny soon enough_." Ichigo told Zangetsu. "_Anyways, where's Shiro? I would have thought that bastard would be shouting at me for getting stuck in a different dimension or telling me to get into Calypso's pants_."

"_He is sleeping. You forgot that you were still using your Hollow powers before using Mugetsu. When Mugetsu ended, it was Shiro's powers that sustained the Caja Negación so that you would not be obliterated when traversing realities_," Zangetsu replied.

Ichigo scratched the back of his head. "_I guess I should thank that bastard when he wakes up_."

"_Do not dwell too much on how else you could have defeated the Butterfly God. Aizen would not have fallen to anything but your very strongest attack_." Zangetsu's voice began to fade. "_I must rest. I will speak to you in the morning_."

"_Right, right, rest away, Zangetsu_." Ichigo smiled. "_I'm glad you and Shiro are still with me_."

"_As am I, Ichigo._"

It was only a few minutes after the duo had halted speaking when Calypso sat beside Ichigo on the ever-shifting sand.

"Calypso?" Ichigo asked, surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I live here," Calypso smiled coquettishly. "But if you are referring to why I am sitting next to you, it's because I do this from time to time. There are only so many things to do on an island."

"Earlier you said that the Olympians visited you from time to time," Ichigo began, "Does that mean that you can't leave the island?"

Calypso's smile faltered. "In the original Titanomachy, the first war between the Titans and Olympians, I supported my father, Atlas, a Titan. I did not support him because of any misguided belief that he was just and righteous, because he's not, but because he is my father. How could I not support my own father in his endeavors? As you know, the Titans lost but because I did not participate in any battles against them, I got off lightly compared to the rest of the Titans. Eternal isolation from the world on this island."

Ichigo frowned as his thoughts turned to his own father. Though his father, Isshin, might seem whimsical and idiotic, he was a good father who supported his children. Of course, Ichigo wouldn't hesitate to put that bastard down if he tried to become a second Aizen but in a way, Ichigo could see why Calypso would support her father in everything, even if he was evil. In a way, she was kind of like Nemu Kurotsuchi. Even though Mayuri abused her repeatedly, she never stopped supporting her father and creator.

Then again, that just might be her programming.

Calypso rested her head on his chest and gazed not at the stars, but into his eyes. "It's a lonely existence. The Olympians often send men to my island, heroic men that have done great deeds. I always end up falling in love with them but they always must leave for they are always either in the middle of a quest they must desperately finish or already in love with another woman."

Calypso hesitated. "W-will you stay with me? I know in my heart that you are one of the kindest men to ever be born. So please, I know this is unfair, but please, will you stay with me? If you become my husband, you will become immortal and we will be together forever."

Ichigo unceremoniously dumped the goddess from her nearly fully intertwined position with him into the sand. As she recovered, coughing out the moist sand that had entered her mouth, Ichigo had his back turned to her and stared at the full moon.

Once she stood up, Ichigo turned around and stared into her eyes. Her eyes were pitiful, full of heartbreak and regret for opening up to him. His eyes, however, shone with a burning anger yet a fiery, unshakable determination.

"I have a proposition for you Calypso." Ichigo bore a scowl but somehow Calypso simply knew that his scowl was not directed at her but at the gods who had imprisoned her. "But first, I need to know something."

Calypso tilted her head questioningly.

"Can you fight?"

...

It turned out that with millennia of time on her hands, like Daedalus, Calypso picked up several skills including wielding a variety of weapons. Her skill was greatest when using spears and swords of varying lengths, though she was more than capable of wielding bows and axes among weapons.

It had taken Calypso a while to brush the rust off her skills but once she had, she was a decent opponent for Ichigo in his unreleased state with each weapon, perhaps equal to the power of a 3rd seat. Her strength and stamina was greater than that of any mortal's, which she had inherited from her father, the Titan of Strength and Endurance, Atlas. Every time she missed clashing weapons with Ichigo's Zanpakutō, a blade of average size and thickness, she caused a small crater to form in the sand.

Calypso kept failing to hit Ichigo because while she had trained with weapons, that was all she did. Calypso had never had any sparring partner so she could never go further with weapons than training. Ichigo became her opponent, an opponent far beyond her level who could also teach her through sparring.

Ichigo corrected her footing with each step she took when holding a weapon, making sure that she could never be caught off balance whether by a surprise attack such as when Ichigo startled Calypso by summoning a metallic black and blue bow and began launching regular spiritual arrows at her.

Ichigo also helped the goddess in the proper grip when wielding one of her various weapons, how to counter many different attacks from different angles, and helped her to create actual battle techniques using her magic.

By showing her various Bakudō and Hadō spells as well as explaining the effect of some of his friends' Zanpakutōs, Calypso managed to create her own magical spells with varying effects. In turn, Calypso taught Ichigo how to utilize magic in this world. Though less powerful, it was more versatile than reiatsu. Magic was capable of controlling the very elements of nature. Like reishi, it was an invisible force in the world that only few could access though it wasn't necessary to be in a spiritual form to utilize.

It was a difficult year for Calypso to be sure but it was the most rewarding year since her imprisonment thousands of years ago although the year seemed even longer considering that time on Ogygia went by faster than the real world. What a year was on the outside world was actually two years on Ogygia.

...

"_It is time, Ichigo. We have spent enough time here. Now, we must go to the outside world and seek out Athena_," Zangetsu told Ichigo.

Ichigo nodded which didn't particularly surprise Calypso since he had told her about his Zanpakutō spirits, Zangetsu and Shiro.

"Zangetsu says it's time to leave, Calypso," Ichigo said aloud after finishing dinner.

Calypso smiled. "I would like that but the enchantments are fairly strong on Ogygia. Far stronger than what I could hope to break."

Ichigo grinned cockily. "You've been teaching me about magic. I think I can overpower the enchantment keeping you here with a mixture of magic and reiatsu."

Calypso adopted Ichigo's infectious grin. "I would like that. Even if the world is not what it was a few years ago, it would be nice to explore the world."

The following dawn had Ichigo and Calypso standing before a large raft that Calypso had conjured. Calypso was dressed in a white dress and sandals with a black cloak covering the entirety of her body. Her chestnut hair was tied into a single braid that laid on her right shoulder. A thin, gold headband kept her bangs from obscuring her vision. A celestial bronze sword of average length was strapped to the left side of her waist for easy draw.

Ichigo was dressed in his Shinigami uniform, a black Shihakushō left open in the chest area, revealing Ichigo's well-defined chest. He had a white strap that went around his chest diagonally that held his unreleased Zanpakutō over his back. In one pocket, he had his Substitute Shinigami badge though it didn't actually work in this world since all his power was now contained in his human and very visible, body. He also wore sandals. It was a simple enough outfit but he liked it.

"All right, Calypso, place your hands on the barrier. Remember that no one but you can activate the barrier," Ichigo said.

"Right," Calypso nodded as she stepped into the ocean and extended her hands forward until she met a physical yet invisible barrier that impeded her movement forward.

"All right, now it's my turn," Ichigo moved forward, hands extended, until he too, felt the barrier pulsing beneath his fingertips.

Ichigo closed his eyes and focused his substantial magic power into the barrier. It wasn't nearly enough to overpower the enchantment but once he began channeling his overwhelming reiatsu, the barrier gained a bluish tinge and began contracting and expanding like a heartbeat until it shattered into minuscule pieces and fell into the ocean.

Calypso turned to Ichigo with a star-struck expression. Her mouth fell open. "Y-you actually did it."

Ichigo smiled. "You're free now, Calypso. Free to do whatever it is you want to do. You deserve it."

Calypso grinned slyly before suddenly wrapping her arms around Ichigo's neck and forcefully bent his head down to her height before she pressed his lips to her and aggressively battled Ichigo's tongue with her own. Ichigo responded a few seconds later by wrapping his arms around her waist.

Finally, Calypso broke free from Ichigo and smiled affectionately while licking her lips. "I like the taste of freedom."

Before Ichigo could begin to think of an eloquent statement that could give justice to the wondrous experience he had just had with Calypso, a familiar voice spoke to him in his head.

"_She wants you, King! Finding that Athena chick can wait! Take the one in front of you, slam her on the sand, and ravage her_!"

Ichigo groaned, not wanting his peaceful days to come to an end.

Shiro was back.

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch3~

**A/N: So yeah, the plot's moving along. I make no promises about the pairing. He could end up with Calypso, he could end up with some other goddess or even mortal. He could even up with a harem. Who knows? I don't (yet).**

** I'm portraying Ichigo so far, in a way that conveys his experience with war but keeps his gruff attitude (with unfamiliar people) but actually conveys kindness to those close with him whether by action or a smile. Hopefully, I'm succeeding.**

** As to Calypso knowing about technology and science, I'm gonna have to say her knowledge of those things come from a mixture of her last hero, Percy, arriving at her island, and the various gods who visit her, bragging about their inventions and whatnot. **

**Anyways, as always,**

**Thanks for reading!**


	4. Strawberry v The Huntress

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch4~

One year earlier...

Truly, the figure on the black throne was a frightening being. Though handsome with princely, curling black locks of hair, exotic gold eyes, and adorned in a simply white toga, he was an evil king. A merciless tyrant. A cruel ruler.

He was Kronos, the King of the World. The Titan who had ushered in the Sixth Age, the second rule of the Titans. His word was law, his will- absolute. None would defy him, none would fail him, at least, not without suffering the consequences of their actions.

And currently, his entire being was focused upon the miserable Titan before him pleading for another chance to prove his worth.

Perses is a fool, though Kronos with an amused smile at the Titan prostrating himself before his King. _Why is it that all the immortals associated with war are always so easy to defeat_?

"Enough of this." Instantaneously, Perses ceased his talking. "I have had enough of my eldest Olympian son attempting to defy me. Pallas?"

The Titan of warfare stepped forward from the shadows with a smart salute. "Milord."

"You will find Thanatos and bind him. Death will simply become a minor inconvenience for my army. This will show my disobedient son that he is not the only one who can possess an undying army." Kronos's amusement changed to viciousness. "Go, Pallas. Get it done. Quickly."

"Your will be done, Lord Kronos," Pallas bowed before teleporting out of the throne room.

"Return to your army in the Underworld," Kronos addressed Perses. "Do not fail me again. The consequences shall be most severe should you do. Should you not, however, the rewards will be great."

"Your will be done, Lord Kronos," Perses's voiced trembled in excitement. Rewards usually meant sexual gratification. He could, of course, take any mortal he pleased but rewards you usually meant having one of three formerly virgin goddesses for a night. That bastard Atlas had been hogging all of them and Aphrodite since the beginning of the new age since those four goddess combined could barely handle Atlas's former burden of carrying the sky. Perses teleported to the Underworld.

Kronos sat back in his throne and contemplated the current events of the world.

_It is a shame that Iapetus has lost his memory. He would have easily crushed my rebellious elder son and put him in his place. Who should I have become the new Lord of the Underworld? Perhaps I should simply have Hades keep his domain... after he undergoes conditioning._

_And then finally, I will deal with Perseus Jackson and show him that he cannot defy me once and for all!_

...

As the months passed since Thanatos's quick capture, many things occurred. For demigods, both Greek and Roman, the world held far more danger than simply being under Kronos's admittedly harsh rule. Monster would not die. What few hideouts Romans and Greeks, separately and unknown to each other, had created during the first year of Kronos's tyrannical reign slowly diminished as monsters reformed almost as soon as they were slain.

However, as Death had been captured, like monsters, demigods with a strong enough will could return to the world of the living after they had been killed. For the most part, demigods and monsters were at a stalemate because of Kronos's impatience.

However, over the year the demigod ranks had begun increasing in number simply because of one simple yet crucial effect of halting death. Stopping death did not only affect monsters but demigods as well.

Demigods that had been dead for years had begun resurrecting. One notable demigod, who actually was a demititan, fell from the stars and landed on the coast of Long Island just as Ichigo and Calypso set sail.

...

Ichigo slapped his face with his palm and groaned. Loudly. Soon, he stopped and turned his head to Calypso who gave a sheepish expression.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T KNOW WHERE WE ARE?"

"I've never been off my island, Ichigo! I haven't used my sea powers in hundreds of years. I'm rusty! Besides, I've never seen a map of the world. The only geography I know is centered around the Mediterranean." Calypso explained, somewhat meekly after Ichigo had finished yelling at her.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Ichigo said as he took a seat beside Calypso. "I'm just tired of sitting on this raft. I know it's not an excuse and again, I'm sorry."

Calypso smiled at the man. "It's all right, Ichigo. I forgive you. At least you can fly and walk on water to stretch your legs. I can't even go with you since I have to control the raft."

Ichigo smiled. "I'll take you flying soon. Why don't you explain to me how we're getting to land."

"Percy told me about how Camp Half-Blood has a strong barrier that prevents monsters and unwanted beings from entering the camp. Since my barrier is somewhat similar, I located the only barrier large enough to surround Camp Half-Blood and now, I'm moving the raft in that direction." Calypso explained. "We'll be there in a few hours."

"Then, if you don't mind, I think I'll take a little nap. The heat's making me doze off," Ichigo said.

"Go ahead. I'll wake you a few minutes before we land."

Ichigo summoned a straw hat using his knowledge of magic that Calypso had taught him. His magic wasn't particularly strong, at least compared to demigods and immortals. To mortals, most of whom could barely access magic, let alone wield it, his magic was above average. Ichigo couldn't use his magic to attack or defend because it would use up his admittedly smallish magical reserves rather quickly. Summoning objects and items of which Ichigo had knowledge of took only minute amounts of his reserves.

Ichigo placed the straw hat so that it would block the sun's rays from hitting him. "Not even reiatsu can create things like this out of nothing."

...

"Ichigo, wake up," Calypso shook Ichigo awake.

Ichigo's brown eyes snapped open. As he rose to his feet, his arm automatically went to his Zanpakutō before he quickly scanned his surroundings, rapidly recognizing that there were no enemies in the area surrounding them. Then, he laid eyes upon Calypso whom he noted was unharmed and forcibly pushed his arm down. The habits earned from war never really left a person.

"I take it we're almost there, Calypso?" Ichigo said as the outline of a sandy shore grew closer in the distance.

Calypso nodded. "We should be Camp Half-Blood's shore."

"Tell me something, Calypso. Do campers often take afternoon naps on the beach?" Ichigo squinted his eyes. He couldn't tell if the person was breathing or not. Because Calypso believed that Kronos had won the Second Titanomachy, Ichigo really didn't want Calypso to find a dead body her first time on land in thousands of years.

"I'll go on ahead and find out," Ichigo said as he gathered reiatsu to his feet.

Before he could launch himself into the air, Calypso jumped on Ichigo's back and wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. His sword pressed uncomfortably against her ample bosom.

"You're not going anywhere without me," Calypso breathed in his ear.

Ichigo shuddered at the sensation before deciding it was pointless to argue and jumped into the air, abandoning the magically conjured raft in the process.

Though the trip from the raft to the shore was over in a flash due to Ichigo's prowess in flight and speed, Calypso still managed to the wind caressing her face and hair and sighed happily at the fleeting feeling of freedom.

"Oi, Calypso. We're here," Ichigo told the Titaness who had her eyes closed.

Calypso's eyes opened and she reluctantly got off Ichigo's back. "Right, right."

Ichigo walked to the body, now identified as an unconscious girl about fourteen or fifteen years old. She was shorter than Ichigo and even Calypso. The girl possessed long, silky black hair that intermingled with the sand, tan skin that edged more on the dark side of the color, and was wearing a strange silver outfit splattered in blood.

Ichigo kneeled beside the girl and conjured both a stethoscope and a mini-flashlight. Well, hopefully you forgive me afterwards, whoever you are. Ichigo ripped the tough fabric of the girl's outfit slightly so that he could access the girl's heart.

"Ichigo, what are you doing?!"

Ichigo ignored Calypso's outburst in favor of sticking the earpieces in his ear and the chest piece of the stethoscope to just above the girl's heart. _Lub dub. Lub dub. Lub dub. Lub dub._ A steady heartbeat. This told Ichigo that she had no wounds that needed to be stitched or closed.

Next, Ichigo opened one of the girl's eyes and flicked on his mini-flashlight. _Black eyes,_ Ichigo noted. _Weird_. They dilated normally following the brief but intense shine of the mini-flashlight into her eyes.

Placing the stethoscope around his neck and the mini-flashlight in his pocket along with his Substitutr Shinigami badge, Ichigo stood up and turned to Calypso who looked at him with a half-worried, half-angry expression. "She's fine, just unconscious. No wounds or anything so the blood's not hers. Of course, that means she was facing off against some sort of immortal since you said that the only beings with gold blood are immortal."

Calypso, who hadn't been able to get a good look at the girl until now, suddenly gasped. Her face turned pale.

Ichigo put a hand on Calypso's shoulder. "What's wrong? You look like Karin when she saw a ghost for the first time at the age of five."

Calypso ignored Ichigo's comparison to his sister in favor of answering. "That- that's my sister, Zoë!"

Ichigo blinked. Calypso had mentioned her family a few times. _Let me think. Zoë would be... the Lieutenant of Artemis_. Ichigo glanced back to Zoë, more specifically, the part of her shirt that he had ripped. If he squinted, the could make out the upper-half of what promised to be a beautiful breast. _Well, I don't think she'll notice. At least, I hope she won't_.

"_You're in for it once she wakes up, King! Even I wouldn't have done that._" A pause. "_Who am I kidding? I would have done a lot more than that_!"

"_Shut up, Shiro, before I make you_!" Ichigo told his perverted, maniacal, spirit.

Thankfully, Shiro's annoying voice faded. Unfortunately, Calypso was frowning at him. It wasn't something he liked to see on her face. "I'm sorry, I was just dealing with an asshole."

Calypso nodded her understanding. Ichigo had told her about Zanpakutō spirits though she really couldn't wrap her head around how parts of the soul could manifest themselves for certain people. Certainly, none of the gods were capable of doing such a thing. She spoke, "We need to get her to somewhere relatively safe. I won't leave my sister behind. Can you carry her?"

Ichigo nodded his assent before picking Zoë up in his arms, her head torso supported by his left arms and legs carried by his right arm. "All right, camp is just over the dune, right? Let's go."

Calypso led the way up, her hand on the pommel of her sword, ready to be drawn the moment she saw anything remotely looking like a monster. The reason she was careful was because it was eerily quiet for a camp that was supposed to be housing dozens upon dozens of demigods. The sound of clashing swords, the cries of frustration, or even simple chatter could not be heard in the camp. As she topped the sand dune, she gasped at the sight that met her eyes. Once Ichigo caught up to Calypso, his eyes widened though having witnessed the destruction of several districts in the Soul Society at the hands of Aizen and his lackeys, he wasn't nearly as taken aback at the destruction as Calypso.

The camp had been utterly obliterated. The twelve cabins, the Big House, the armory, and other buildings located in the camp, had been reduced to rubble. Only burned pieces of wood and the occasional burned item remained. The once lush green grass and surrounding forest was also burned, razed nearly fully to the earth. There weren't any bodies, thankfully, but to see what was obviously a once nature paradise inhabited by demigods, nymphs, naiads, and satyrs in harmony so cruelly turned to ash saddened the Titaness. If that had ever happened to her garden, well, there would be Hades to pay.

"Come on, Calypso, let's find a place to settle your sister down," Ichigo said as he skidded down the sand dune and on to the steady ground. "We have to make sure its not easily seen so let's head to the forest. It's not all burned down so we'll be able to hide in the thicker part of the forest.

The forest, half-alive and half-dead, was quiet. The only sounds came from the murmuring creek and the trees rustling in the wind. Soon enough, they came across a small clearing large enough to allow the three beings to settle down comfortably.

Calypso conjured a tent. It was a small, dark green tent however, on the inside, was a far larger space. The inside of the tent was like an extremely cramped apartment. The tent held three full sized beds, a bathroom, and a kitchen. Though larger on the inside of the tent than what appeared on the outside, it was still a small space. The three beds were placed side by side with little space in between them.

"I wish I could do something this complex with magic. This is really nice, Calypso," Ichigo praised her as he gently set down her half-sister on the bed farthest from the entrance of the tent.

"You stay here, Calypso and watch over Zoë. I'll check around camp to see if there's anything useful to take. I'm sure your sister will be more comfortable if she wakes up to see a familiar face rather than mine." Before Ichigo exited the tent, he added, "Just make sure you tell her I'm also around. I don't want her attacking me as soon I come back."

Calypso beamed at Ichigo's retreating back. _Even though he looks tough, he's such a thoughtful man._

Calypso looked at the kitchen she created. _I'm sure Ichigo would appreciate a warm meal when he comes back... and Zoë too when she wakes up_.

Ichigo used shunpo to quickly travel back to the ruined camp. Over the course of the next few hours, Ichigo traveled from ruined building to ruined building, sifting through ash and debris to search for anything useful or remotely interesting. He found a few things such as a bag of golden coins and several celestial bronze weapons but little else.

At the last of the ruins, Ichigo stood up and stretched his back, looking at the huge tree on the top of the hill. The sunset reflected something golden in the lower branches of the tree. The sparkly something roused his curiosity so Ichigo shunpoed to the top of the hill.

It was a fleece. A golden fleece. The Golden Fleece, Ichigo mentally corrected himself. It's obviously there for a reason so I better leave it alone for now. Ichigo knew about some Greek myths because his history class in Karakura High had spent some time on them. Some if the myths, like the Golden Fleece, stuck to him. Of course, it didn't hurt that Calypso had also told him about many more myths and gods and goddesses.

Deciding he wasn't in any rush to get back, Ichigo decided to walk back to their campsite.

...

Flashes of her past came back to her like a lightning bolt. It came to her quickly but disappeared just as quickly. She remembered each and every event leading up to her death. The quest to rescue Artemis, the infuriating Percy Jackson, the Nemean Lion, the fight against the prototype Talos, Bianca's death, the peculiar dam jests, her fight with Ladon, her fight against her father, and finally her death in the hands of her mistress.

"_Stars. I can see the stars again, my lady._"

Those were the last words she had ever spoken when she was last alive and yet, she had never been to the Underworld. Lady Artemis had put her in the stars! That could be the only explanation as to why she hadn't gone to the Underworld. She had no memories of being in the stars but she supposed that it was likely that it was a state of true rest. Eternal sleep. In the stars, it appeared that one was not capable of conscious thought. But then, why was she capable of thought?

A smell infiltrated her nostrils. It was a delicious, mouth-watering smell that caused the semi-conscious girl to realize that her stomach was rumbling. Angrily. Her onyx eyes fluttered open. She was in an unfamiliar setting staring at the ceiling. Having lived in a tent for much of her long life, she instantly recognized that she was in a tent. Her hoarse voice sounded throughout the quiet tent. "M-my l-lady?"

The sound of hurried footsteps filled the tent followed by the vision of a familiar face.

"C-Calypso? Is t-that you?" Zoë struggled to form words. Her body felt weak as if she hadn't done anything physical in years. It was difficult to even mover her head.

"I- I thought that only h-heroes could land on y-your island, s-sister," Zoë's voice was slowly getting better.

"You're not on my island, Zoë. We're currently in Camp Half-Blood. Besides, you are a hero, sister, though I suspect that you were referring to male heroes," Calypso smiled at her half-sister before holding a glass of water to her lips. "Here, drink some water. It will help you recover."

Surprisingly, the water Zoë drank really did help her. It was as if she had been, for the most part, healed. She could now move her body without hurting so she sat up. "How peculiar. I feel as if I have had a good night's rest." Zoë's eyes widened in realization. "But how is this possible? The only time my energy has been replenished by water is when I still had my powers over the sea."

"You may recall that your sea powers were tied in with your original immortality. When the remainder of the Hesperides cursed you and caused you to lose your immortality, you also lost your powers over the sea. I-"

"You restored my original immortality?" Zoë's eyes were widened in awe at the power of her sister.

Calypso laughed softly before responding. "No, silly. I restored your sea powers. I have had millennia to further my powers in magic. Breaking curses just happens to be one of many magical powers I possess. As a daughter of a Titan and Titaness, my powers are naturally stronger than the Hesperides. Calypso's smile faded. "Although, I wasn't able to destroy the barrier of Ogygia."

"Thank you, Calypso." Zoë smiled at the Titaness. "But, how are you here? How have you escaped your island prison? Did the gods set you free after the war? What do you know of Lady Artemis? Is she well? And what of the Hunt? Are my sisters-in-battle well?"

"Relax, Zoë. I will tell you all of what I know, which admittedly, is not much considering that I have been imprisoned on Ogygia until yesterday. Two years ago, the Olympians stopped contacting me. Last year, a hero arrived at my island and I nursed him to health. He's the one who helped me break the barriers of Ogygia and set me free. Though might seem gruff, he's actually a kind man so I expect you to behave yourself and reel in your man-hating tendencies. _Understood_?" Calypso's eyes narrowed at her sister.

Zoë wasn't in the mood to argue, having just recently been resurrected from the dead so she nodded her head.

It was at that moment that Ichigo stepped into the tent. Zoë took notice of his most striking feature.

"Is that orange hair natural?" Zoë asked bluntly. She simply couldn't stop staring at what was obviously an anomaly of nature.

Shiro snickered.

Ichigo groaned before scowling at Zoë. "No matter what reality I travel to, there'll always be a disbeliever."

Seeing Zoë's look of disbelief, he said, "Yes, it's my real hair and no, I won't show you my pubic hair to confirm it for you. I may have orange hair but I'm not a pedophile."

Zoë looked at the man in disgust before turning to Calypso and jerked her head to him while saying, "This is the man who saved you? He's so... vulgar!"

Ichigo dropped the items he had collected to the ground before heading to Zoë. As he put the stethoscope to his ears and fingered the chest piece part, Zoë edged away from the man.

"What are you doing?" Zoë questioned nervously. She didn't have nearly enough strength as she would have liked to fight the man off if attempted to do anything unsavory towards her

"Oi, oi. Relax, will you? I'm not gonna hurt you. I just need to check your heartbeat to make sure you're okay. I was training to be a doctor before... nevermind. Now, hold still ya brat!" Ichigo shouted as Zoë began struggling, attempting to kick his head off.

"Zoë, calm down! He will not harm you." Seeing that Zoë would not be calming down anytime soon, she shouted, "HE'S ALREADY DONE THIS TO YOU!"

Zoë halted before narrowing her eyes at the man. She would allow it this once but if his hands wandered, she would kill him... once she had regained all of her strength. "Only above my heart. Anywhere else and you will feel my wrath!"

Ichigo rolled his eyes. He would, of course, comply, but the threat was needless. He placed the chest piece of the stethoscope over her heart and listened to heartbeat. It was steady.

"You're fine," Ichigo said after a minute. He got up and tossed the stethoscope on his bed before turning to face Calypso. "By the way, whatever you're making smells delicious."

Calypso blushed at the praise. "Then, shall I serve you both?"

Dinner was a quiet affair. Zoë was so tired after the temporary rejuvenation the water she had drank had granted her that she practically fell asleep in her food. Calypso was smiling as she ate her food, happy that she had found at least one of her family members. One that she liked. Ichigo reflected upon the camp. Who caused such devastation and why would they do so?

Ichigo took the bed closed to the flap of the tent because Zoë inhabited the bed on the other edge. As soon as her head had hit the pillow, Zoë was out like a light. Ichigo thought about how he was going to find Athena and then how he was going to convince her to help him. He doubted she would help by simply fighting her and pummeling her into submission.

Calypso was happy. She had found a man, who while, might seem angry all the time was in fact a sweet and caring man. It was okay to fall in love with him, right. Her eyes slowly closed as thought about the man asleep next to her.

They all slept peacefully on that quiet night.

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch4~

**A/N: Dp11: There's always that kind of chance. Yeah, but the Titans also have Roman names. Remember, Kronos's rule affects the entire world not just Greeks. The Romans will have to get involved eventually.**

**nisemono96: I happen to like the name Shiro. I really don't see Ichigo calling Shiro by Shirosaki simply because Shiro works. They're friends, I'd think friends can call each other nicknames.**

**Trife: Hopefully this explains at least a part of it. After all, Calypso won't know much about modern medicine and inventions.**

**Krazyfanfiction1: For Ceros, yes. For Hadō spells, not so much. You know how Captains are typically good in three areas of Shinigami combat but are lacking in one? For example, Kenpachi is good with a sword, hand-to-hand, and can run as fast as a Shunpo user but doesn't use Kidō spells? Another example would be Byakuya- good at sword fighting, Shunpo, and Kidō spells but you never really see him in hand to hand combat? Same thing with Ichigo only that Kidō is his area of weakness.**

**So as you can see, I brought out the stopping death thing earlier. This'll have a couple effects down the road, some good, some bad, and some that I can use to move the plot along (which should count as good). Yep, Zoë. Hopefully, the characters were canon-flavored and to your liking. To all of you, thanks for your support and as always,**

**Thanks for reading!**


	5. Strawberry v The New World

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch5~

Dawn had not yet begun when Ichigo opened his eyes. Waking before dawn was just another wartime policy Ichigo had made into a habit of his. With his large amount of reiatsu, he could go on for days before needing to sleep though he would often crash afterwards. Thankfully, Ichigo could function fully with only a few hours of sleep.

Despite his large frame, Ichigo quietly made his way to the bathroom. A cold shower was just what he needed to counteract the August heat later in the day. A cold shower later, a fully dressed Ichigo emerge from the bathroom, discovering that both girls were wide awake and seated at the table, eating breakfast.

"Morning, sorry if I woke you," Ichigo told both daughters of Atlas as he sat down in front of the only empty plate and began eating.

"Good morning, Ichigo," Calypso chirped as she leaned over the table the table with a jug of orange juice. "Would you like some juice?"

"Oh," Ichigo blinked. "Yes, please."

Zoë stayed silent, choosing to observe the Substitute Shinigami eating a piece of toast covering in grape jam. He completely ignored the strawberry jam placed to the left of his plate.

"Thank you for the meal, Calypso. I'll make the next meal," Ichigo thanked.

"Oh, it's not a problem. I'm more than happy to make the meals," Calypso protested.

"You don't need to be afraid of my cooking. There was nothing tasty to eat on the sands of Hueco Mundo, only the rations provided by the Soul Society. I've learned to make a few good meals," Ichigo said. "Besides, I don't think you've ever tried a Japanese dish."

Zoë frowned at the words "Hueco Mundo." She understood the translation but had never heard of a place called Hueco Mundo. Where was this man from?

Calypso relented. "All right then. I will summon any ingredients you need then."

Ichigo nodded his agreement. Most organic matter cost more than half his magical reserves. The larger the item, the more magic it cost to summon. Ichigo could only summon organic matter smaller than his fist without completely draining his magical reserves. Organic matter was far more complex than inorganic matter which was why it had a higher magical cost.

Ichigo turned to Zoë. "What is it you plan to do now? Calypso and I plan on searching for Athena."

"I must search for Lady Artemis." Zoë raised an eye. "Why do you need to search for Athena?"

Ichigo glanced at Calypso who said, "She's trustworthy, Ichigo. Besides, you will need allies if you wish to get back."

With Calypso's helpful advice, Ichigo explained that he was from an alternate dimension. Zoë didn't believe anything he said until he went outside the tent and used Getsuga Tenshō in his unreleased state on the surrounding area.

That day, a crescent-shaped crater a half-mile in length and a quarter-mile deep was formed in the forest surrounding Camp Half-Blood.

Zoë believed him after that. It wasn't that the attack was particularly powerful compared to the might of the gods but rather that she sensed a strange energy surrounding his attack. It was unlike anything she had ever witnessed before though it was somewhat similar to the power Thanatos and Hades wielded.

"I will assist you in finding Athena if you first aid me in locating Lady Artemis," Zoë offered. "I have invaluable knowledge of the land that neither you or Calypso has."

Ichigo shrugged his shoulders after he had strapped his Zanpakutō over his back. "All right. I'm not really in any rush. I'm sure there are people back home trying to find a way to bring me back."

Zoë was surprised that he had so easily agreed to her request. She had thought it would take more convincing on her part to persuade the orange-haired man. She wondered if all men were this agreeable in his reality. Perhaps his reality didn't have many unsavory men.

Ichigo really wasn't in a rush. He had been fighting Aizen in his spirit form, a form that with enough reiatsu, slowed that aging process immensely. He had regained a physical body, perfectly suited to house all of his monstrous reiatsu, after traveling dimensions. It had been apparent after Ichigo had used his Substitute Shinigami badge on Calypso's island that it was impossible to access his spirit form. His new body had been adapted to all his power which made Ichigo believe that his aging process had greatly slowed, if not stopped completely.

So Ichigo was fine with waiting. Besides, he doubted Athena knew anything about reiatsu and since his reality incident had occurred based on immense amounts of reiatsu and a portable dimension, it was more than likely that Athena wouldn't be able to help him if she didn't have knowledge of the energy that had made this occur. Besides, he was confident that Hat-n-Clogs would be able to get him.

Well, he was more hopeful than confident.

"But before that," Ichigo continued after a minute of thought, "you're going to have to get your strength back up. Can't have you relying on water to keep your health up only for it to fail at a critical moment. Come on, I'll help you regain your stamina and health back."

Zoë gritted her teeth. She most certainly did not need the help of this boy. She was a Huntress! She had taught others how to build up their strength and endurance!

She sighed. She needed to find Lady Artemis as fast as possible and contrary to her firm belief, she knew that unless someone pushed her every step of the way, she would slack off. She had seen it so many times when she had allowed several of her sisters in the Hunt train by themselves for the first time. After the first few days, they weakened. She would be like them should she refuse his assistance.

"Very well. I accept your offer, Ichigo."

Seconds turned into minutes, minutes into hours, hours into days, days into weeks, and weeks into months until finally one day, Ichigo had deemed her ready to go out in the world.

It had been a hard two months for Zoë. The first three weeks were spent gaining back her strength, speed, and stamina. It was slow-going at first. She had barely been able to complete a lap around the forest without running out of breath and collapsing. Ichigo never laughed at her, however. In fact, he seemed to be sympathetic to her plight. A few weeks later and she had regained her former speed and power. Ichigo had pushed the entire time and by the end of the two months, she had actually surpassed herself when she had been the Lieutenant of the Hunt.

Ichigo had driven her like Lady Artemis never had because of her duties as a goddess and a moon deity, and now Zoë felt better than she ever had. That wasn't to say that she had only trained up her strength and endurance. No, after three weeks had passed, Ichigo had sent her to Calypso so that Calypso could magically summon whatever weapons she desired.

She had obviously chosen her former weapons, twin silver knives and a silver bow. She was a master of both weapons. Ichigo has asked for a spar so Zoë had decided to take it easy on him.

With only his sword, he pummeled her. Despite her new and improved self, Ichigo was simply stronger, faster, and could last longer than her. When Zoë had asked how he had defeated her, Ichigo had smirked and told her she simply couldn't compare to the speed of a woman who could throw a hundred punches and kicks within the span of a few seconds or a woman who only two hits for a kill, the strength of men and women that could destroy mountains with a single punch, or the endurance of someone who had spent weeks fighting on the front-lines of a war against a never ending horde of enemies.

That wasn't to say that she never touched him. On the contrary, after a while she had read through some of his less complex moves and had actually hit him several times. She had felt worried the first time she had actually stabbed him in his heart. He had told her to attack him as if she wanted to kill him and had promised that he would easily be able to survive anything she threw at him. When she had rushed over to him to check his health and hopefully, stop his bleeding, he backhanded her into a nearby tree.

When she had woke up to Ichigo standing over her, she had realized that he wasn't even injured. It had been then when she realized that she had truly fought against a man from another reality and had lost horribly.

"Even after you think you've beaten you opponent, you can't let your guard down for even a moment," Ichigo had told her.

Zoë had, of course, known this. In the past, her prey would often feign death. However, beings like Ichigo weren't even injured by a seemingly mortal wound. Ichigo had told her something about having steel skin but all she could think of at the time was that she would require the strength of her father, Atlas, or that bastard Heracles to even scratch his skin let alone pierce his heart with a knife.

She saw Ichigo in a new light after that day. He was a man who could stand against gods and Titans and would likely come out on top. He had actually done so twice, as she learned one night when she asked about the war in his reality one night.

Zoë had also learned more about her powers over the sea and more importantly, how to control and utilize said powers. She had learned to do so under Calypso's guidance, who while hadn't had a need to use her aquatic powers, was still capable of teaching various techniques. Ichigo had actually offered insight by offering several vital pieces of advice that he had based off a few friends, one capable of commanding water and two others commanding the element of ice. Zoë was quite proud of the fact that she could draw a gallon of water from the air by manipulating hydrogen and oxygen molecules together as well as being able to convert water to ice. Of course, this was in addition to various other aquatic techniques.

Over the two months, Zoë had gotten to know Ichigo quite well. He was like Percy, kind, caring, compassionate, and willing to do anything for his friends as evidenced by him breaking the barrier of Calypso's island for her though he had none of the naive innocence. She had glimpsed it in his eyes the many times they had sparred. The merciless eyes of a soldier that wouldn't hesitate to strike down an opponent should they threaten the wellbeing of he or his friends.

She had come to understand a little of what Calypso saw in the man.

...

So Zoë, we're following your lead here. What's your plan?" Ichigo asked. They were all standing at the top of the hill next to Thalia's Tree. Zoë had said to leave the Golden Fleece alone since it strengthened the barriers of the destroyed camp. There was no point in taking it with them since it would likely only serve to attract monsters.

"Lady Artemis has set up a number of temporary shelters over the years since Greece. There are several in America but if Kronos truly has taken over the world, then it would be best we avoid the shelters in the east and in the west. Those are the respective locations of Olympus and Othrys. Olympus is likely to be heavily guarded which makes the closest shelter outside of that sphere of influence on the other side of the Appalachian Mountains," Zoë responded.

"Appalachian Mountains?" Calypso asked curiously.

Zoë nodded. "A chain of mountains relatively near here that stretches from north to south, isolating most of the east coast from the rest of the continent."

Zoë continued, "We will not have to climb to the peak of any mountains though we may need to travel up them a little to get where we are going."

Ichigo gestured to the way out of the island. "We're following you, Zoë. Hopefully, we get lucky and the remainder of your Hunters are there."

The first thing that alerted Zoë and Ichigo that something was wrong with the world were the roads. No longer were they a gravely, black path with painted lines that led to everywhere but simply a dusty path filled with rocks and other small stones and marked by the footsteps in the dust. It was a radical change from a once clearly marked and inked path but none of the trio was particularly bothered by it. On the contrary, Calypso and Zoë had seen these types of paths before many millennia ago while Ichigo considered it a step down from the stone roads of the Soul Society.

Then, the saw the city of New York. Or rather, a pale imitation of a city that once boasted hundreds of skyscrapers and millions of pedestrians along with several architectural wonders.

Now, it was a large town. There thousands of small houses made of wood. Some two-story buildings dotted the town. The most interesting sight was that the town was built at the foothills of a gigantic mountain boasting a large, golden palace at its peak barely visible from the ground as if it merely tolerated humankind and could crush humanity like an any whenever it wished. The town was a center of commerce as evidenced by the hundreds of merchants entering the town from one of the several gates as well as the massive amounts of people walking about the town, some cheerful, others emotionless. Despite its largeness, it was still tiny compared to the actual New York City.

"So your suspicions were correct, Calypso." Zoë said. "The Titan King truly has taken over the world. This used to be such a large, grand city but now it is nothing compared to its former self."

A short yet effective barrier of stakes pieces of wood and barbed wire surrounded the town like the kind used in both World Wars to deter enemy combatants from moving in. Guards were posted in openings between the barrier that correlated with the dirt paths used by travelers and merchants.

All three of them sensed several powerful beings residing on the top of the mountain but thankfully, Calypso had enchanted a silver ring for Zoë that hid her scent, Calypso could suppress her own power, and Ichigo's earring suppressed his reiatsu to a human's level. None of them would be attracting monsters anytime soon.

"Halt!"

The group stopped before a pair of guards. One of them had stopped the trio.

"I've never seen you around here before. Who are you? Monsters?" The guard questioned harshly before muttering, "That might explain the orange hair."

Ichigo cut in before Zoë and Calypso could respond. "I'm Barry, this is my fiancé, Callie, and her sister, Zoë. My father passed away about a week ago due to heart conditions. Normally, he would come to town to sell the fruits and vegetables we grow but now I have to do it. This is my first time here so you'll excuse me if I make any mistakes."

"I can understand. I wouldn't want my own children going out to the town without me in case there was a monster attack." The guard laughed boisterously at their collective questioning looks. "Never been in a monster raid, huh? Well, let me explain a couple of things to then, son."

"First off, currency. Here in the East, we use drachmas but in the West, they use denarii. There are three kinds of both coins, bronze, silver, and gold. For drachmas, 10 bronze ones equals a silver and ten silver drachmas equals a single gold drachma. For denarii, five bronze denarii equals a silver denarii, and twenty-five silver denarii equals a gold denarius."

"Next, the monsters. All across this great continent exist monster towns. Some of them are larger than this town and others are as small as camps. Monsters continuously raid human settlements because they hate us. I don't know why but unless you're handy with that sword you got strapped across your back, it's best not to fight them. Cyclopses can break your skull with a single smack of their hands while others will eat your flesh. If you see one, run away!"

"Now, we get onto the East and the West. For some reason, Lord Kronos divided the East and West. We don't know why. Some say that Lord Kronos grew bored of watching humanity develop, others say that there's a deeper meaning to it but they don't know exactly what."

"Finally, we get down," the guard's voice lowered to a whisper. "to the rebellion. They claim that humanity flourished before Lord Kronos's rule. That science and some weird thing called technology existed before. That we reached the moon! That's crazy talk! Everyone knows that Lord Hyperion drives the sun across the sky each day and that Lady Phoebe drives the moon through the night! They're scattered all over but I heard that their focused in the center of the continent. Best you keep away from them, boy."

Ichigo bowed to the man. "Thank you for your helpful information."

The guard waved away his thanks. "Ah, don't worry about it. Always happy to help the young."

"Here you go," Ichigo tipped the man a silver drachma.

The guard stared at their retreating backs. "What good kids."

Almost as soon as they were out of view of the guard, Zoë turned to Ichigo and demanded, "Why didn't you allow me to speak?"

"Well, it turned out okay, right? I mean you dislike men with a passion and probably would have irritated the guard. Calypso doesn't have much experience talking with people that aren't immortals. Besides, we got plenty of information and it probably would have made the guard suspicious if you talked. Humanity at the time of Kronos's rule was a male-dominated society. I figured that it would be best if I talked," Ichigo explained himself.

Zoë stared at him intently, looking for any sign of insincerity in his explanation. Finding none, she turned away in a huff, seeing no holes in his explanation. "We should go over our story before we reach another story."

Calypso slid up to Ichigo and put an arm around his waist. "Fiancé, huh?"

Ichigo responded by placing an arm on her shoulders. "Yep. I don't have a ring to give now but maybe in the future."

Zoë rolled her eyes at the playful banter as they three of them continued walking down the street.

Zoë formulated a new cover story based on the talk and rumors she had heard while walking throughout the town. Monster cities, the dangerous wilderness, the collective fear of monsters, and rumors of an unimaginable amount of gold, enchanted items, and other valuables located deep within monster territory had led Zoë to the perfect cover story.

Treasure-hunters.

Their fame and fortune would be made by stealing treasure from those dastardly monsters that hunted humans. They primarily searched for treasure but there were always monsters lurking about the continent.

Zoë nodded to herself before turning to Ichigo and Calypso. She noted, slightly irritated at the fact, that they had not let go of each other's hands. "Treasure hunters."

Ichigo blinked. "Sorry?"

"Our new cover story is that we're treasure hunters. It would explain our weapons and our roaming about the land. It would also explain why we are gathering supplies in case anyone asks," Zoë explained.

Ichigo shrugged. "It's fine with me. How about you, Zoë?"

Calypso nodded her agreement. "It's a good cover story. I am also in agreement."

"Good, now we should split up to find a map. A map would tell us of other human towns as well as known monster settlements." Zoë said before gesturing to the gate that led out to the opposite side of the mountain and to the Appalachian Mountain range. "We will meet up there at 2. Do not be late. I wish to leave as soon as possible."

...

"I didn't find one."

"I found some other interesting things but not a map."

Zoë sighed before holding up what they all had been looking for but apparently only she had found. The map hadn't been particularly difficult to find. A number of stores had offered them once she had entered the main square but judging by Ichigo's uncaring look and the chocolate drink in his hand and the various trinkets Calypso was examining, the former hadn't even bothered to look and instead had decided to buy a drink while the latter had gotten distracted by the various "enchantments" merchants had claimed were on the various pieces of jewelry and had gotten suckered into buying several pieces.

_Though that brooch with the black wolf would look good with this outfit..._

Zoë frowned. She would have to curb her interest in jewelry. She would also have to make sure her companions wouldn't get distracted again. Zoë glanced at the orange haired man offering Calypso a sip of his chocolate drink.

_Or that they would simply not care..._

Ichigo's cry of despair as Calypso slurped the last of his drink startled Zoë out of her musing. She smiled as Ichigo finally took back his drink and frantically attempted to suck out the tiny drops of chocolate liquid that remained. A sigh and toss of the bottle somewhere behind him told her he was unsuccessful.

_Still, this is nice. Who would have thought that I would come back to life and almost immediately afterwards, meet a sister and... a kind-hearted hero._

Zoë looked back at the laughing Calypso and the scowling Ichigo.

_Yes_, she thought. _This is nice._

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch5~

**A/N:**

**Dp11: Yep, yep, thank you. Shall I say that the Titans wished to break them of heart, hope, and spirit and have them all at their feet for the rest of eternity. Of course though I'll explain it once Ichigo has faced his first monster and the girls have failed in sensing them to Tartarus.**

**Krazyfanfiction1: Absolutely, though he might not need it unless he's facing gods, Titans, and other higher beings.**

**Thanks for your support, and as always, **

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. Strawberry v Traveling and Lions

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch6~

_"Leave me, Ichigo. I have a score to settle with Aizen. You are far too injured at the moment to fully combat Aizen," the dark-skinned woman told her lover._

_Ichigo scowled before smacking her arm which caused her to turn and stare at him. Ichigo stared back at her, no longer intimidated by the emotionless gaze she attempted to use against him. "Don't give me that crap, Tia. Exactly what would make you think I would agree to that selfish request? I've despised that man for a large portion of my life!"_

_"I am older," Tia reminded Ichigo before wrapping her arm around the taller man's neck and pushing him down to her level so she could kiss them._

_After the kiss, which Ichigo returned passionately, Tia smirked before pushing the Substitute Shinigami away and opening a Garganta behind him that led to the Soul Society._

_"Goodbye, my love," Ichigo heard her say._

_Tia turned to face Aizen, who had made his first appearance since beginning they war eight years ago, and activated her Ressurección._

_"Destroy, Tiburón."_

_Ichigo never saw Tia again._

...

Ichigo sighed as his eyes snapped open. He hadn't ever stopped ever thinking about Tia and what could have possibly happened after she had tricked him into retreating to the Soul Society. Was it possible that Aizen had kept her alive for some evil purpose? Had she died?

Ichigo let loose a breath before deciding to get up for the day. The sun was rising and that was reason enough to continue moving through the mountain range.

Two hours later found Ichigo, Calypso, and Zoë moving at a quick walk past through the fairly dense woodlands they had encountered. Ichigo turned to Calypso when he heard her speak for the first time in an hour.

"By the way, I forgot to ask earlier, but how exactly did you come up with Barry for your name? I mean Callie and Zoë are fairly obvious but Barry? I don't know how you came up with that." She had spoken those words so innocently. Even Zoë glanced at him, wondering the same thing now that Calypso had brought it to her attention.

Ichigo, at first, considered ignoring her but one look at her innocent, puppy-dog, almond colored eyes and his will crumbled. He simply couldn't ignore her. Not that he would want to.

"Do you know Japanese?" He knew the answer, no, but he was stalling.

Calypso shook her head. Immortals could learn every language in the world but she hadn't ever encountered Japanese before.

"My first name, Ichigo, can be interpreted as meaning strawberry and from that, I just took Barry from it because I heard that it is sometimes used as a name in English." Ichigo frowned. "Strange. I don't remember knowing English this well."

"The Titan King likely has made English the only language in the world," Zoë commented offhandedly. "But more importantly, why is it you avoid eating strawberries then? I noticed that you've ignored anything relating to strawberries for the past two months."

"Strawberries are the epitome of evil!" Ichigo declared loudly, surprising the two daughters of Atlas. "Never has there been an evil greater than the strawberry! Not even Aizen can compare! Its roundish shape! Its fiendish redness! Those pesky little black things dotting the strawberry! Those green leaves that I always compare to hair! Each time you touch one, you're touching evil! Death to strawberries everywhere!"

Calypso and Zoë stopped walking and shared a look before they both clutched their stomachs as if in pain, and began to laugh uproariously. They couldn't believe what they were hearing!

"Don't laugh, non-believers! Have you ever encountered a foe more deadly than the dreaded strawberry?!" Ichigo demanded. He seemed so serious about the evilness of strawberries that Calypso wondered what had actually happened.

"Grapes," Zoë answered seriously. Then, she burst out laughing again.

Calypso finally recovered from her second laughing fit and glanced at Ichigo, who was scowling at the two of them. "How about you tell me the real reason you dislike strawberries?"

Ichigo frowned before explaining. "When I was little, kids used to bully me because of my orange hair. Heck, they used to do in high school. Anyways, when they learned the word for strawberry and the fact that I brought strawberries to school, they found another reason to bully me. That's why I like chocolate. It's the antithesis of strawberry. Vanilla is more of a neutral flavor leaning towards chocolate. Strawberry can influence it but chocolate can convert it completely."

Zoë stared at him in amazement. "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Not the first part, that is sad, but the second part? How did you even think of that?"

"Haven't you ever had ice cream?" Ichigo asked. "The three main flavors are strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate. When you mix vanilla and strawberry together, it comes out a mixture of white and pink parts but mostly pink. When you mix vanilla and chocolate together, it's almost completely dark. When you mix all three together, it mostly comes out dark. That's why chocolate is the opposite of strawberry. It can counter strawberry completely and dominate it."

Zoë edged away from the Substitute Shinigami with the obsession of evil strawberries. A maniacal gleam had appeared in his eyes when he started talking about how chocolate was superior to strawberry. It unnerved her.

Calypso had not been idle when Ichigo's had gone off on his rant. She had magically summoned a strawberry to help him get rid of his childhood fear of strawberries. She wanted to help him because he had helped her when she had been trapped on Ogygia. If this was the first step she needed to take to help repay her savior then she would do this for him.

And if she needed to try some underhanded tactics that Ichigo simply couldn't resist, well she would happily do that too.

Calypso had grabbed his attention and so he turned only to discover a medium sized strawberry in front of his face.

"I don't wanna!" Ichigo said childishly. Calypso thought the look he gave her was reminiscent of a child though for a twenty-something year old man with orange hair, it was an astonishingly cute look.

Calypso tilted her head and gave him the puppy eyes look. Ichigo resisted for an impressive fifteen seconds before his will crumbled. He nodded his acceptance grumpily.

"Say ah," Calypso held the strawberry in one hand with her other hand below the strawberry but not touching it.

As Ichigo leaned forward to take a bite, he saw something strange in the trees behind the nymph. Two slitted yellow eyes glaring hungrily at him.

Ichigo's eyes narrowed as he quickly put one arm around Calypso's waist, which earned him a squeak, and pulled her behind him before extending his other hand, palm facing the large thing with the red eyes and shouting, "Hadō 58: Tenran!"

Almost immediately, a devastating whirlwind that originated from his hand crashed into trees and the thing alike, slicing trees, kicking up dirt, and causing the thing to unwillingly be pushed backwards a few meters. Ichigo had intentionally put more than required amount of reiatsu because he had noted the hugeness of whatever the monster was and because he wanted Zoë to identify it.

"A Nemean Lion," Zoë whispered in awe.

Ichigo heard her and quickly reflected upon his memories of Calypso teaching him about various mythological monsters and rapidly obtained information about his opponent as he threw Calypso to Zoë who caught her sister with a small grunt.

_Let's see if I remember. Invulnerable fur. Claws that can penetrate its invulnerable fur. Sharp teeth. Its weakness would probably be its eyes and mouth. It probably can't turn very well but it probably leaps pretty high._

A sadistic smirk reminiscent of Kenpachi Zaraki in a slaughter everything mode crossed his face.

_Its fur is invulnerable but I bet its bones aren't._

It was an abnormally large lion. Gold fur glinted in the sunlight. Teeth bared angrily, the lion roared a fearsome challenge to the Substitute Shinigami

"Calypso, Zoë, I'll be taking on this bastard alone. It's time I finally test out the powers of a Soul Reaper _against these new bastards that have come for the slaughter!_" Ichigo shouted to them while Shiro smoothly interjected and added to his last words.

Zoë and Calypso, who had recovered, nodded their assent before retreating hastily. Neither of them wanted to be in the vicinity once Ichigo started fighting. They had both witnessed Ichigo's ridiculous strength.

Back when Ichigo had been training Zoë, he had accidentally banged his Zanpakutō against an immense, elder oak tree with the flat of his blade and it had fallen over with a loud, tumbling crash.

"Whoops," Ichigo had said sheepishly to Zoë. "I'm usually better at controlling my strength. Sorry about that."

The only thought in Zoë's mind had been, what kind of nightmarish world must Ichigo have lived in that a slight slip in control caused a hundred foot oak tree to fall? It was utterly ridiculous.

In all honesty, Zoë believed he would easily crush the Nemean Lion. Heracles had done it long ago and she suspected that Ichigo easily surpassed the demigod son of Zeus and quite possibly, her own father. Neither of the two could accidentally topple a huge tree simply because they forgot about their own strength. Calypso sat back on her tree stump and popped the strawberry she had still held onto in her mouth.

"All right then, Shiro, you ready to get rid of some stress?" Ichigo asked his Hollow self.

He had to let use Shiro's powers once in a while otherwise the bastard would become agitated and start trying to pull him into his inner world to fight him for control of his body. By using his Hollow powers every once in a while, he avoided a pointless fight.

"_Still asking stupid questions, King? I thought one of your girlfriends put a stop to that. Anyways, let's go_!" Shiro shouted.

Ichigo ignored that last comment of Shiro's in favor of removing his earring and tossing it to Calypso who caught it with a single hand. Then, he put his hand to the top of his face and in a ripping fashion, pulled downwards, causing black reiatsu to gather on his face before dispersing into his Hollow mask. It was a frightening mask, completely white except for two thick, black vertical stripes interrupted only by the eye slits which held black eyes with yellow irises and the jaw, which was similar to the jaw found on a human skull only with sharper teeth and in an eternal grin.

Black reiatsu warped around the Hollowfied Death God before it exploded upwards, tearing a hole into the heavens before slowly diminishing into a manageable output and circling around his feet.

"I won't even need my Zanpakutō for this," Ichigo claimed as he shunpoed in front of the Nemean lion and brought both his hands, formed into a single fist, down on the lion's head.

"I've never seen Ichigo use that before," Calypso shuddered. "And I'm glad he hasn't before now. It doesn't feel evil but-"

"-Bloodthirsty," Zoë finished.

She watched calmly as Ichigo stopped the Nemean Lion's bite with a punch to his snout before using his other hand to punch his throat, flipping it in the air. Before the lion could even think of recovering somehow, Ichigo was above him, using both feet to kick the lion's exposed stomach and sent him crashing to the ground.

Zoë shielded her eyes with a hand as a crater formed upon the lion's reintroduction to the earth and dust kicked up spectacularly, blocking all attempts to see what happened to the Nemean Lion.

Hollow Ichigo waited patiently in the sky for the dust to settle.

"_That was fun. It's always nice to beat up some unlucky bastard who thinks he can take us on_," Shiro laughed. The dust settled and Shiro laughed again. "_Look at that poor bastard. Impenetrable fur isn't all that great. Ulquiorra already proved that._"

The lion was on his back, twitching every so often. Two of his legs were bent at crooked angles while his snout was bloodied. The lion's eyes opened to reveal a willingness to fight despite his severely wounded condition. The lion slowly rolled over and struggled to its feet, wincing as it put most of its weight on its hind paws. The lion growled at the man before him.

"_Pathetic. Even normal Hollows are more of a challenge that this,_" Shiro complained from within Ichigo's inner world.

"_Oi, oi. Say that after I kill the Nemean Lion_," Ichigo told him before raising his hand and uttering two words that would chill the former Lieutenant of Artemis and goddess to their very core.

"_Cero Oscuras_."

A concentrated, large beam of black reiatsu outlined in red shot forward from Ichigo's palm, shooting forward through the air like a diving bird of prey. A moment later, the Cero impacted the injured lion before shooting upwards, reaching the height of a skyscraper and kicking up sand, dirt, and rock before slowly dispersing.

Ichigo sighed as he vanished his Hollow mask. Tia had taught him how to utilize his Hollow abilities since his own Hollow, Shiro, was simply a more instinctive copy of his current powers. He couldn't teach him anything other than the basic Cero and Bala that all Hollows knew.

The dust finally settled to reveal nothing but a large crater in the ground as most attacks from Ichigo's dimension were wont to do whether they missed or not. Not even the golden dust that came after having killed a monster remained.

"That was impressive," Zoë said as she and Calypso approached Ichigo. "In fact, I would say that you went overboard."

"Yeah, well, Shiro wanted to test how strong these new creatures are," Ichigo said as he received his earring from Calypso. "According to him, this one was pathetic."

Zoë scowled at the thought of the Nemean Lion being a minor inconvenience for the Substitute Shinigami. She had hunted the lions on several occasions with her sisters, losing at least once each time. Only her most recent engagement with a Nemean Lion had she not lost any members and only because of the ingenuity of a man- Percy.

Perhaps there was something positive about males in general after all. Percy had certainly proved himself after taking the sky for her Lady. Ichigo had that same quality about him- a willingness to protect, whether they be friends or simply an ideal.

Zoë looked at the sight of Ichigo refusing a strawberry from Calypso despite her pouty, adorable, puppy-like look. Perhaps there was something good about men after all, at least, about a few men. A very few men.

"Well, you waiting for an invitation, Zoë? Lead on before some beings decide to investigate exactly what those lights I let loose earlier were and find us here," Ichigo gestured vaguely in the direction that they had been heading in before the encounter with the Nemean Lion.

Though, he could certainly use some work on his manners.

...

"We are here," Zoë motioned to the large cabin in the distance.

The trio had been traveling across the Appalachian Mountains for a couple days. The landscape of trees, plains, and distant mountain ranges simply blurred together for Ichigo and Calypso, both of whom weren't used to traveling like they were now. Calypso had been imprisoned on a small island and Ichigo was used to shunpoing across vast distances like the sands of Hueco Mundo and the Soul Society.

Ichigo wasn't really one for taking it slow but he had to admit that it was kind of nice. Now that he reflected upon it, he had been kind of stupid to not have enjoyed that short break of seventeen months after losing his reiatsu. Instead, he had spent the time worrying about the affairs of the afterlife and wondering what his friends, all of whom still possessed reiatsu, got up to. What kind of Hollows did they face? Did they have any injuries after they fought Hollows?

Yeah, he had been an idiot in those days. They had invaded the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo alongside himself. They were more than capable of dealing with Hollows. Ichigo shook his head to rid himself of his current thoughts. There was no use in thinking about what he could have done when he was younger. Now, he was older, wiser, and in a new world.

Ichigo watched as Zoë took a key from underneath a rock hidden under a rooted plant, and used it to unlock the door of the large, two-story cabin. She pushed the door forward and it opened, slowly creaking forward until it came to a stop.

"You know the place. Ladies first," Ichigo, in Zoë's opinion, so generously offered.

She rolled her eyes before entering the cabin and flicking on the light switch. The lights switched on at once, illuminating the living room and signaling for Ichigo and Calypso to enter.

"Nice place," Ichigo said as he looked around. Comfortable couches, seats, a dining room, and most surprisingly, a television. "I didn't realize that girl scouts needed a television."

Zoë scowled at the man though she knew that that was his casual way of referring to things. She resolved to correct his mistake. "Hunters of Artemis. Not girl scouts as you so depreciatingly put it but the Hunters of Artemis. An elite group of semi-immortal warriors blessed by the goddess, Artemis with superior speed, skill, and strength compared to mortals and demigods."

"Did you memorize that or did you come up with that on the spot?"

As much as Zoë would like, she couldn't make him pay for such a comment so she stuck with a millennia-old tradition of getting back at someone.

She stuck her tongue out at her.

"Real mature. Do you think staying immortal at your age also stopped your brain from maturing?"

Calypso slapped the back of Ichigo's head. "Don't be rude to my sister, Ichigo. Apologize!"

Ichigo bowed his head to Zoë. "Sorry, Zoë. I went overboard."

Zoë grinned. At least Calypso could put him in his place when needed. Perhaps she could use this to her advantage somehow? "Not a problem, Ichigo. Don't let it happen again."

Ichigo looked at the television. "Why is that thing here? Didn't Kro- I mean, the Titan King get rid of all technology in the world?"

Ichigo had been told by both Calypso and Zoë to not utter the true names of monsters and Titans because that could attract them to their location.

"This is a sanctuary blessed by a goddess. I do not believe that the Titan King could have overpowered the protections of the gods and also reverse time to a different age. Perhaps had he not been recently reborn when he had done so, it would be a different matter but it is not and so here we are," Zoë explained.

"I see," Ichigo muttered as he walked to the television. It was held by a desk which had an open shelf that held a dvd player surrounded by various movies. He picked one at random. "My sisters liked this one when they were younger. I didn't realize your tough girl scouts also watched Mulan."

Zoë snatched the movie and gently placed it back in its place. "It is the tale of a young, brave woman who took her father's place to serve in the army and saved an entire dynasty! Do not mock this movie."

"I'm not mocking the movie," Ichigo said softly as he forced himself to stifle a smile and got up. "It's a nice place you have here."

Zoë narrowed her eyes but before she could respond to the unsubtle accusation, Calypso yawned. It made Zoë realize that it was late, nearly midnight in fact.

"I guess it's time we all hit the hay," Ichigo yawned. "Where are the bedrooms?"

"Upstairs. Usually we would bunk together because of our numbers but we shouldn't have that problem, right Ichigo?" Zoë glared at the Shinigami. She wouldn't tolerate Calypso sharing a bed with him no matter what her sister said and how Ichigo had acted up to now. He was still a male.

"Yeah, yeah, Zoë," Ichigo waved at the two girls before heading up the stairs. "Goodnight."

The two sisters shared pleasantries at the top of the stairs before heading to different rooms.

...

Ichigo woke up to the squeak of his door opening slowly. He kept his eyes closed, feigning sleep. If the intruders had been Calypso or Zoë, they would have woken him up whether he wanted to or not. No, his slowly opening door was the act of someone who didn't want him to wake up.

His Zanpakutō was on the right side of his bed. He could draw it now but it was more likely that the intruder had some sort of weapon in their hands, something likely able to strike him faster than he get up his comfortable covers to defend against.

No, he would just wait for the intruder to come closer. Close enough for him to grab him and her and demand some answers. Only one set of steps. Perfect.

He just had to wait for the intruder to get closer.

Closer.

Closer.

Closer.

There! He threw his blankets on the intruder, getting a feminine noise of surprise out of the intruder before tackling her to the floor and grappling with her until she laid underneath him, covered in blankets and disarmed of her twin silver knives that he quickly tossed to a corner of the room.

Warningly, he thumped the intruder's head against the floor with a small amount strength. Enough for her to get the message that she wasn't in control of the situation.

Ichigo removed the part of the blankets that covered her face. An unfamiliar, snarling visage stared back at him with hatred in her eyes.

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch6~

**A/N: So yeah, I haven't updated in a while but it isn't my fault! Well, I mean it sort of is but it isn't. So first thing to know, I write all my stories on my phone in notes. So I'm there tapping away at the keyboard, all motivated and writing out a good chunk of the story before going to sleep. In the morning, I wake up, decide want to write more so I open up my notes and... it's not there. I didn't delete it and nobody had the password to my phone so I lose my motivation (this of course, also happened to the chapter I had written for my other story as well). Then, I go on vacation for two weeks and then decide I'm motivated again. So I type out what I could remember, gave it a new beginning, and then, after a while of tapping, I go to sleep. When I wale up, my original chapter is there again! So I combine the two, leave it alone for a while, and then finish writing the chapter and so here we are with my phone mysteriously making duplicates of my chapters. What a nice phone... It must have heard that I might be upgrading. Hehehehehe...**

**Now, then. Yeah, Ichigo has a thing about strawberries and not in the good way. I figured that even the Nemean Lion wants a mate now and then and that its monster genes would overpower normal lion genes and create more lions with the same exact powers and weaknesses. Hurray. Yep. Even only Hollowfication was overkill. I was thinking more along Ichigo fighting Titans at ten times their strength in canon than itty-bitty cannon fodder like Nemean Lions. Yep, looks like it's godhood for him since being a god would explain why he's so...godlike in this world.**

**Thoughts to consider:**

**Could you imagine if Yamamoto was reborn as Percy Jackson complete with his devastating firepower? And then Zeus has the audacity of accusing the man who has stood as the leader of a powerful society for over a thousand years and been living even longer than that, of stealing the Master Bolt. Hahaha, oh, how Olympus would bathe in the fires of Ryujin Jakka. Now, that's just something that's been rolling around in my head (along with a bunch of other ideas) for a couple weeks now. That would be fun to write.**

**Anyways, as always,**

**Thanks for reading!**


	7. Strawberry v Charming New Friends

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch7~

Ichigo listened to the spiel of men being inferior to women, threats of castration, and promises of death for all of three minutes from the teenage girl before he finally stood up with his hand wrapped around her neck. She was easily lifted into the air, her frame easily dwarfed by Ichigo's own and began choking as Ichigo lightly tightened his grasp.

He knocked his forehead to hers and growled, "It's too early in the morning to listen to your crap. Don't be so inconsiderate, bitch!"

As he shouted the last word, he threw the girl out of his room. As the back of her head hit the wall, she was rendered unconscious.

Nodding to himself, Ichigo looked out the window in his room. The sun was slowly rising but was still hidden by the mountains. It was dawn. He yawned as his eyes glazed over the unconscious girl.

She had a tough look with roughly cut, short, brown hair, and brown eyes from what Ichigo could remember, was very pro-feminine, and was wearing an entirely silver outfit. Her outfit consisted of two pieces. The first was a chiton, a woolen garment that wrapped around her body lengthwise like a toga over each of her shoulders to her stomach and around. It didn't look particularly heavy but kept her comfortably warm. She also wore silver, skin-tight leggings reaching up to above her knees that allowed her to easily run, jump, and fight. She also possessed a pair of black boots.

Ichigo raised a hand at the unconscious girl. "Bakudō 63: Sajō Sabaku."

Ichigo's hand glowed a bright yellow before a long chain composed of that yellow energy quickly emerged and wrapped around the unconscious Hunter of Artemis.

Ichigo smirked. The girl wouldn't be able to get out of that anytime soon though she was welcome to try. Brute strength alone would never be enough to break Sajō Sabaku. He was positive that while she might have been capable of breaking lesser Bakudō spells, Sajō Sabaku would hold up to any attempts on her part to break free. By using a trace amount of his Hollow reiatsu, not even a Vizard could break free even when using their Hollow masks.

Ichigo put on his Shihakushō. With his Zanpakutō strapped across his back, he was ready to go check on the girls. He wasn't particularly concerned about them for two reasons. The first was that he hadn't heard any screaming. He would have awoken in an instant had he heard shouting and yelling. The second was that Zoë was a former Hunter herself. She had mentioned once that she had been the Hunters' Lieutenant since its inception. It was more than likely that the other girl, according to Ichigo's reiatsu detecting abilities, that she likely recognized Zoë.

With a yawn, he stepped over the unconscious, chained girl, and headed down the hall to the girls' room. He knocked twice before entering. Their room was the same as his own, two beds, a small, comfortable looking sofa chair, a window, a door leading to a bathroom.

Inside were the girls he had been traveling with who were both sitting on their respective beds with legs dangling over the edge, chatting with an unfamiliar face seated on the sofa chair. Unlike her companion, she was dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans, though her t-shirt had some sort of arrow in a doll's head. While most couldn't quite do the look justice, she pulled it off quite well, bringing out her electric blue eyes. She had shoulder length black hair kept out of her hair only by a silver circlet, a small, somewhat amused smirk directed at him, and a canister of something called Mace gripped tightly in one of her hands.

Calypso and Zoë tilted their heads to face him but both quite couldn't meet his eyes. The blue-eyed girl's smirk simply widened at the girls' obviously ashamed looks. It was a little creepy.

Ichigo let out a breath as he released the irritation he had built up walking to the girls' room. He leaned against the wall next to the open door. "You're all very lucky I've already learned how to deal with... annoyances."

All three girls cringed at the last word. While most of the sentence he had spoken held a hint of irritation, the last word he had spoken had been drastically different. It was cold and emotionless, unlike anything that foes had ever expressed. For Zoë and Thalia, the most battle-experienced of the trio of girls, it was especially discomforting. All of their respective foes had always braggarts, sure of their power and overconfident- until they were cut down. To hear even a single word be so empty, so hollow, it was an unnerving experience.

"So," Ichigo drawled, startling all three girls out of their thoughts, "exactly who's idea was it to try and assassinate me in my sleep?"

The blue-eyed girl quickly regained her smirk, "Well, Zoë and Calypso had been telling me about how strong you are so Phoebe decided to test you and I let her."

"Yeah? And how'd that work out for you?"

"Well, considering you're here and she's out cold," Thalia said, having guessed earlier that the thud against the hallway wall had been one of the two being knocked out. "You pass."

"Let me show you something," Ichigo told the girl, drawing his Zanpakutō, putting the girl on edge, before resting it on the floor vertically, with the tip of the blade touching the floor.

"Yeah? So you have a five foot sword. Big deal." The girl scoffed.

"I'm glad you noticed how tall my Zanpakutō is because if you ever try testing me again, I'll shove my Zanpakutō up your ass," Ichigo felt a little Gin, having donned a grin while threatening the girl.

"_You tell her, King_! _Though let me suggest shoving something else up her ass_," Shiro suggested with a maniacal laugh.

"_It's too early in the morning for you too, ya bastard_," Ichigo growled back as he began ignoring Shiro.

The girl looked distinctly ill at the very thought of him actually going through with his threat. She had been told by Calypso and Zoë how Ichigo had destroyed the protective barrier around Ogygia, though granted it was weakened, and how Zoë had been sorely outclassed in hand-to-hand combat and when using weapons even after she had recovered from her weakened state.

Calypso and Zoë simply gaped at Ichigo when he had had uttered his threat. They had both seen several emotions on him but irritation followed by vulgar threats was a new one. Apparently, he didn't enjoy being woken up by an assassin at the crack of dawn. Go figure.

Okay, so Ichigo hadn't completely gotten over his irritation.

The girl recovered quickly and shot back, "Why do you have such a long sword anyways? You compensating for something?" A look to his crotch left little to ambiguity.

Ichigo decided to tell the truth, "I have a voice in my head telling me to screw you in the ass." Ichigo could hear Shiro laugh as he released a trickle of reiatsu, causing the girl to shudder while bringing her Mace canister closer to herself. "You better go and check on your friend, before I do exactly that."

She glared at him for a moment before slowly walking to the door, her electric blue eyes continuously on him like a hawk, watching for any signs of movement. She frowned at him one last time before leaving to check on Phoebe.

Ichigo shut the door after her and turned to look at Zoë and Calypso, both of whom were staring at him. He walked until he was in front of him. Both of them knew about his Zanpakutō spirits but neither knew what they would normally say to him since he never revealed to them what they said.

"One of your spirits tells you to have sex?" Zoë asked, leaning away from him ever so slightly and uttering that last word disgustedly.

Ichigo waved his hand dismissively. "He's my Hollow side. I may not have said it before but Hollows are beings who have lost their heart and become a manifestation of a particular human instinct or emotion. I'm just lucky he's a pervert and not a rampaging psychopath."

Zoë was not comforted by this. Calypso wondered if his Hollow side had told Ichigo to get into her pants as well. She crossed her legs. She had been the only woman he had seen for a year. She had to have been the target of his Hollow spirit's perverted tendencies, right? Oh wait, didn't Ichigo mention something once about missing his Hollow side? Hmm...

Ichigo cocked his head. "Wait. He's actually both. But at least, he's manageable."

Not comforting, at all.

"Anyways, exactly what did you tell that girl?" Ichigo questioned.

"Just that you were strong," Calypso said, having snapped out of her fantasy involving her, a naked Ichigo, and some whipped cream.

"Did you tell her that I'm from another dimension?"

"No. She had just finished asking how you met me when you entered the room," Calypso answered.

"Good, make something up. Not everyone needs to know my life story," Ichigo said.

"Why?" Zoë asked. "Would it not be easier to tell the truth?"

"Why do I have to tell her anything? It's none of her business. You don't go telling random people that you were once a Hesperide, do you? I trust Calypso which is why I told her my story," Ichigo said. "Can't exactly lie to the woman who nursed me back to health."

Calypso giggled as she imagined in a doctor's attire with Ichigo as her patient.

"And I trust you, even though you didn't stop her from sending a girl after me while I was sleeping," Ichigo looked intently at Zoë.

"I know," Zoë didn't try to make excuses for herself. She had been awake first and Thalia had only just sent Phoebe on her way before Calypso had awoken and joined in on the conversation. Calypso had believed that Phoebe had been going to the bathroom and it was only when Ichigo had entered that Calypso had realized she was wrong. Zoë felt ashamed of herself and looked down. "I- I'm sorry, Ichigo. I should have stopped her."

Ichigo patted her head. "Just don't let it happen again, all right?"

Zoë smiled a little at him. "Yes, Ichigo."

"Anyways," Ichigo began, sitting next to the former Lieutenant of Artemis. "Who was that girl?"

"Her name is Thalia Grace. She is a daughter of Zeus and the current Lieutenant of the Hunt," Zoë answered.

Zoë wasn't sure what exactly to feel about that. On one hand, she was proud that a capable woman had taken the mantle of Lieutenant of the Hunt. On the other hand, she had been the former Lieutenant. Zoë was still loyal to Artemis, a few measly years of death hadn't changed that in the slightest, and yet she couldn't quite yet become part of the Hunt once again since Artemis currently was incapable of giving her a blessing to join the Hunt.

Still, sticking with Ichigo and Calypso wasn't a terrible second option. She glanced at the man sitting next to her. His mouth was tilted upwards as he talked with Calypso. Zoë was surprised that he hadn't simply blown up at her for allowing Thalia to send Phoebe to test him though now that she reflected upon it and remembered what little he had told her about his war, spending weeks camping out on the deserts of Hueco Mundo for an opportune moment to deal with the manipulative bastard who had begun the war had granted him patience approaching that of a saint.

A shout of frustration from the hallway startled Zoë out of her thoughts. A moment later, the door slammed open to reveal a visibly angered Thalia.

She jabbed a finger at Ichigo. "You bastard! What'd you do to Phoebe?!"

Ichigo raised an eyebrow quizzically. "I thought it would be obvious. Didn't you see the chains?"

"Why can't I break them?" She growled.

"Why would you be able to?"

"The Blessing of Artemis includes enhanced physical capabilities along with semi-immortality. Our strength from the blessing is such that we could eventually break ourselves free from chains made of steel," Zoë explained. The enhanced physical capabilities from Artemis's blessing was one of the reasons why they had won every single game of Capture the Flag when the Hunters had visited Camp Half-Blood.

Ichigo shrugged. "There you go then. Those chains aren't made of steel."

"Get rid of them!" Thalia demanded.

"Get rid of them, please."

Through gritted teeth, Thalia responded, "_Please_, get rid of them."

Had Thalia been an enemy, Ichigo would have antagonized her further. It was an especially excellent technique for suckering in Hollows below Arrancar level for an easy death.

Instead, he blinked. "All done."

Nearly snarling at the bastard, she left to check on Phoebe.

Ichigo yawned and stretched his arms once he stood up. He grabbed his Zanpakutō and strapped it across his back, a comforting feeling no matter the hour.

"So, who's up for breakfast?"

...

It was a tense silence at the table. Thalia and Phoebe were seated on one side while Calypso, who had finished making breakfast, Ichigo, and Zoë were seated on the other side. They all had just finished eating breakfast and no one had a clue of what to say that wouldn't antagonize anyone else.

"So," Ichigo decided to break the ten minute silence. "What are you ladies doing here?"

Thalia snorted. "Are you bipolar or something? Half an hour ago you were threatening me with your sword and now you're chill?"

Ichigo leaned back in his chair. "I do hear voices, you know?"

"_It'd be a lot more than that if you give me five minutes, King_!" Shiro cackled loudly. Ichigo pointedly ignored the perverted Hollow.

Thalia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Phoebe continued glaring at him as she had been doing since she first sat at the table. She was particularly unhappy at how quickly and easily she had been defeated.

"I am also curious as to why you are here," Zoë interjected, hoping to avoid anymore confrontations and arguments.

Thalia let loose a breath of air, ridding herself of most of her, granted, unwarranted anger. "We just finished scouting the defenses of what was formerly Mount Olympus, known now as the Lord of Light's base."

"Why?" Zoë asked. "The Lieutenant and second-in-command should not be scouting together. If the two of you died on a mission, the Hunters of Artemis would have no one to lead them."

Thalia scowled. "I know that, Nightshade, but there isn't exactly anyone in the Hunters that could do the mission without being detected and killed. It takes an extreme amount of will power to lower a demigod scent to a regular mortal's scent." Thalia had forgotten, after being surprised at seeing a familiar face that had died before her very eyes, how much Zoë had annoyed her.

Zoë frowned. "What of the children of Hecate? I believe that a single spell is capable of altering a demigod's scent."

"Well, gee, why didn't I think of that?" Thalia dramatically banged her hand against her forehead as if she just realized something. "Oh wait, I did. Too bad most of the demigod children of the minor gods defected because everyone thought they were minor compared to the major gods!"

A moment of silence followed Thalia's outburst.

Ichigo thought back to his unlikely allies of former Espada members Tia, Grimmjow, Ulquiorra, some Quincy survivors, and a couple Fullbringers, and how they had all allied themselves with the Shinigami to oppose Aizen and smiled slightly as he thought back to his early days of invading the Soul Society and Hueco Mundo.

He had been underestimated multiple times but thanks to his ridiculously, still-growing reiatsu reserves, iron will, and a lot of luck, he had persevered in every mission he had set for himself. Later on, against the Wandenreich and the second coming of Aizen, luck had given way to immense skill, fearlessness, and a willingness to do whatever it took to save his friends, family, and loved ones.

Thalia held her head in her hands and moaned lowly, too lowly for anyone but Phoebe, who was sitting right next to her, to hear. They had been on the move for days, from a temporary shelter in the Rockies to what was formerly New York City. The stress had accumulated for her rapidly, avoiding monster and human patrols, the former desiring to eat her demigod flesh and the latter being composed of mostly men who wanted her as a slave and sex toy. It had annoyed her immensely that the only time she and Phoebe had been caught, it had been Phoebe that had dispatched them quickly, allowing her no way to express her mounting frustration.

Her stress and frustration grew as they had finally arrived in what was formerly New York City to spy on Hyperion's palace to determine when Artemis would be arriving only for one of her informants in the large, human town, a mortal who remembered the past, had told her that the prisoner had already been brought to Hyperion's palace by a contingent of Atlas's best warriors.

So, Thalia had told Phoebe that they were returning to their temporary camp in the Rockies. Phoebe had argued harshly, saying that they owed it to Artemis to rescue her but Thalia had countered by saying that they were of no use to her pointlessly dead.

So they had headed to a former base in the Appalachian Mountains. They had easily come across their base but had been surprised that there were intruders presents. Thalia and Phoebe had entered silently and had quickly located the first room where at least one intruder rested and had entered ready to slash the jugular with silver knives until they had seen Zoë's face.

Zoë, at that point, had woken up and drawn both her knives from under her pillow. Soon enough, they had caught up from their last meeting a few years ago, and Zoë had revealed that she was traveling with Calypso, a goddess, and a man by the name of Ichigo Kurosaki.

Phoebe had left the room to test the man. Thalia, being of a stressful mind, hadn't bothered to stop her, and had actually looked forward to whatever Phoebe had in store for the man. She had not, however, expected to find Phoebe chained and knocked out.

Of course, it was only now that she realized that she was completely in the wrong. After she had antagonized the man with the strange powers multiple times.

She obviously needed to start spending more time around demigod strongholds. Otherwise, she might become even more influenced by the Hunters' man-hating tendencies.

She wasn't going to apologize to him though! Especially not after he had threatened to shove that ridiculously oversized sword up her ass!

At least, now that she had eaten, she was significantly less stressed.

"You never actually said why you were scouting the defenses of the Titan of Light's palace," Calypso's voice ended the reflective silence.

Thalia lifted her head up and glumly answered after a moment of hesitation. "We had gotten reports from some spies in the area that a prisoner was being escorted to the palace."

"We arrived too late," Phoebe slumped in her seat, her face showing a weariness and fatigue that had not been there when she had attacked Ichigo during the night.

"Artemis." Everyone looked at Calypso who flushed slightly in embarrassment at all the stares she was unaccustomed to receiving before she shrugged her shoulders. "Well, it's true, right? I mean, I don't think the top two members of the Hunt would go together to rescue any god or goddess but their own patron goddess."

Thalia nodded. "Yeah, you're right. Our spies all said that at least one goddess was being moved to the palace and that Hyp- I mean, the Lord of Light had requested that Artemis be sent to him. It might have been more though. None of our spies caught a look at the amount of prisoners being transported."

"Artemis is the name of the goddess you wanted to save, right Zoë?" Ichigo asked curiously.

Zoë gave him an unimpressed look. "Did you forget already, Ichigo? I was once the Lieutenant of the Hunt. It only makes sense that I would want to rescue my former patron goddess, especially since I hold no ill will towards her."

Ichigo held up his hands in surrender. "I'm just checking, Zoë. I'm still relatively new to the Greek world and there's a lot of gods and goddesses whose names start with the letter a. Artemis, Apollo, Ares, Athena, Aphrodite. And that's only the major Greek gods. I'm sure there's even more that I can't come up with at the top of my head."

Thalia's eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly at the tidbit of information. So his powers didn't come from Greek gods? How very interesting...

"So where do you think Hyper-" Ichigo's voice ended up muffled by Thalia's hand. She had leaned forward quickly to prevent Ichigo from saying the Titan of Light's name.

Ichigo shook his head but Thalia hadn't let go of his face. "You idiot! Don't say the names of any Titans! That'll bring whatever Titan whose name you said here! Don't say the names of monsters either!"

Ichigo licked the palm of her hand in response, finally successful in getting her to release her grip from his fact.

"Eww," Thalia groaned, waving her hand frantically before edging quickly to a giggling Calypso and wiping the man's spit present on her hand, on Calypso's face.

"I forgot, okay?" Ichigo stared slightly strangely at Calypso, who hadn't stopped giggling even as she wiped away the traces of saliva on her cheek.

"Well, don't forget again, you idiot! Your forgetfulness could mean the difference between life and death," Thalia hissed.

Ichigo sat back in his seat grumpily. Not being able to say a name? That was annoying.

"Where do you think the _Titan of Light_," Ichigo stared at Thalia, "keeps his prisoners?"

"Under his palace," Phoebe snorted. "Did you believe that he would keep them somewhere inside his majestic palace?"

Ichigo rolled his eyes at her tone. "So, Artemis is in the mountain? So, if someone destroys the palace, the prisoners should be perfectly safe, right?"

"And how exactly do you expect to destroy a palace that large? In case you haven't noticed, bombs don't exactly exist and the amount of Greek fire it would take to destroy the palace is more than what anyone would be willing to part with. And that's without having to defeat the Titan of Light's army and the Titan himself. It can't be done." Thalia finished.

Ichigo grinned slightly as he rose to a standing position. "Oi, Zoë."

Zoë blinked at her name being called. "Yes, Ichigo?"

"Looks like it won't take too long to rescue Artemis. You remember agreeing to help me rescue Athena after I help you rescue Artemis, right?"

After a moment's pause, she slowed answered questioningly, "Yes?"

"Well, looks like you'll be helping me out a lot sooner than I thought. You all should be ready to move at a moment's notice. I don't know if my opponents will be able to track me or not and I'll be coming here right after I have Artemis," Ichigo's voice left no room for arguments. It was the tone of a commander, one who would not tolerate anyone disobeying him, at least not without a really good reason, not that any of the four girls knew that.

"Well, I'm off," Ichigo waved goodbye.

"Hold on!" Phoebe interrupted harshly. "You're an idiot! You can't take on a Titan! You'll die in seconds of going anywhere near the place!"

Ichigo smirked. "I didn't know you cared."

"I do not!" Phoebe barked back immediately. "I do care about what'll happen to Lady Artemis if you fail though."

"Well, don't worry. You'll find that fighting enemies stronger than me is what I do best," Ichigo smirked as he turned away only to meet Calypso's gaze.

She was worried about him, that much he could tell. What he didn't expect was for her to kiss him passionately, causing the three other girls to blush and avert their eyes.

Quicker than she would have liked, Calypso released his lips and gazed into his warm, brown eyes. "Good luck, Ichigo and please, come back safely."

Ichigo smiled genuinely at her. When had Calypso wormed her way into his heart? He hadn't quite realized until now that he really did care for the lovable goddess. It wasn't quite love but he did feel a great amount of affection for Calypso. He knew that she definitely liked him but with him trying to get home, it wouldn't be right to start a relationship with anyone let alone Calypso. He would simply be another person who left her.

"I will."

Ichigo exited the two story cabin and with a quick shout of an unfamiliar word in the ears of the girls, he had vanished.

"What an idiot," Thalia shook her head. "I forgot to tell you earlier but the Titans have imprisoned Thanatos. Mortals and demigods can die but monsters immediately resurrect after killing then. Only some demigods can resurrect themselves."

Zoë shared a look with Calypso. If that was true, then how did Ichigo slay a Nemean Lion?

"I'm sure Ichigo will have no problem," Calypso said as she headed to the staircase. "In any case, we should pack. Coming Zoë?"

Zoë followed the goddess, the two of them hoping for Ichigo's to return safely.

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch7~

**A/N: So, looks like you'll all be in for a treat next chapter.**

**Exanime Draco: Yep, his Zanpakutō is in a completely sealed state. His Shikai is the newest one with dual blades, the one where his Zanpakutō was reforged after being broken. His Bankai is as of the last time I checked, still unrevealed but I already have an idea about that, that I won't quite reveal just yet. Sorry for not getting back to you earlier.**

**I'd like to thank you all for your support and as always,**

**Thanks for reading!**


	8. Strawberry v Rescue Mission

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch8~

The dark, cloudless night was only faintly brightened by the sprinkling of stars across the night sky and the crescent moon that dimly illuminated the scape of the earth. Much of the already nearly imperceptible light never reached the town once known as New York City because of huge mountain located north of the town, the very peak of the mountain home to Hyperion, the Lord of Light and Titan of the East. Only the Titan of Light could make out the figure floating in the year a half-mile away, directly across his palace in the dark of the night, but, thankfully for the Substitute Shinigami, he was currently asleep and his army was not nearly as skilled in spotting things in darkness as Hyperion.

Ichigo, however, could see perfectly well, even if he had not fought for years under the eternal night sky of Hueco Mundo. Hyperion's palace gleamed a dull gold, suppressed from its usual radiance of a thousand suns so that his palace would not disturb the mortals below. He did this not for the sake of simply being gracious but because the mortals would not work well if sleep-deprived.

Ichigo allowed a pulse of reiatsu to escape him, forming an invisible, thin halo around him before allowing it to pulse outwards from him, and encircling two miles in all directions from him. Ichigo had learned some time ago from experimenting with Calypso and Zoë that reiatsu was an unknown, unfamiliar type of energy in this world. While existing on the same plane of existence as godly energy, that which allowed gods and goddesses to claim domains as their own, none of the gods and goddesses had actually noticed the existence of this second type of energy. It existed, but without knowledge of reiatsu in the first place, it remained untapped.

So long as Ichigo did not purposefully give color and form to his reiatsu, techniques such as his Shinigami form of Pequisa he was currently using would go undetected.

Ichigo frowned as the results came back to him instantaneously. The monsters under Hyperion's control, except for two, were below Adjuchas level. They all ranged from normal Hollows to the level between Gillian class and Adjuchas class Hollows. Essentially, they were fodder. It was likely that the two stronger than normal presences he had felt had more intelligence than the average mythological monster but were still substantially weaker than him. He had fought Vasto Lorde and Arrancar level Hollows on a daily basis. Adjuchas, towards the end of the war, could be dealt with by Fourth-seat Shinigami with only a moderate amount of difficulty.

What Ichigo hadn't expected to discover was that there were three beings radiating a power above Adjuchas class. Two were located deep within the mountain and hardly held the power equivalent to a Vasto Lorde. Only one being, whom Ichigo assumed to be Hyperion, possessed power in spades enough to be considered a god. Of course, Ichigo was basing this only the only two gods he had ever met, Aizen and the Spirit King. While Hyperion's current power level paled in comparison to even his own, it was just as strong as Aizen's in his third stage of evolution.

Of course, it didn't matter how much power a being possessed if one didn't know how to control said power. Yamamoto had been the Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13 for one thousand years not only because of his immense power but also because of his near-perfect control of his reiatsu.

Ichigo, since finishing his training in the Dangai the second time around, had possessed far more reiatsu than even Yamamoto and had only recently gained a satisfactory amount of control over his immense power. His earring suppressed his monstrous reiatsu to the level of an average human and allowed him a fine level of control over his reiatsu.

"Well," Ichigo cracked his head, "time to get started."

Shiro cackled madly from within his inner world as Ichigo donned his Hollow mask.

"_How're we doing this, King? Blowing up the palace? Ooh, ooh, I know! Let's blow up the town and while they're trying to figure out who blew up the town, we can save whatever gods are in the mountain_!" Shiro said, rapid-fire. "_How are we blowing things up? Cero? Cero Oscuras? Cero Metralleta? Come on, let's blow something up_!"

Ichigo groaned internally. "_You're too energetic, Shiro. Wasn't that lion the other day enough for you_?"

"_That was an appetizer, King! You still haven't given me the main course_!" Shiro argued.

Ichigo rolled his eyes before drawing his Zanpakutō with his right hand from his back. Because he hadn't accessed his Shikai or Bankai and he hadn't removed his reiatsu suppressing earring before donning his Hollow mask, the outpouring of Hollow reiatsu that would have usually occurred when donning his Hollow mask was easily suppressed.

"Kuroi Getsuga." Ichigo lifted his Zanpakutō to his left, allowing reiatsu to gather before slashing horizontally from left to right.

A crescent of black reiatsu outlined in red exploded from his Zanpakutō, rapidly traveling through the air in the direction Ichigo had aimed. Several seconds later, the crescent shaped Getsuga sliced through the golden walls of Hyperion's palace, tearing it in half and completely obliterating the top half. At the same moment, Ichigo charged an orb of red reiatsu and launched it at the mountain in the form of a Cero. The Cero tore through the rock and earth of the mountain as easily as a knife sliced bread. An instant later, Ichigo ended the Cero. The Cero had stopped just before it would pierce the wall of the prison.

In a small buzz of static, Ichigo disappeared from view in the night sky and reappeared in the newly created hole he had made in the mountainside.

_Yeah, that isn't obvious at all_, Ichigo thought as he stared at the blatantly different metal. It was a smooth steel compared to the rough surface of the hole he had created. With his hand, he created a fist and punched the steel wall. Hard. force of his straight punch tore a huge, gaping hole in the wall. The mountain rumbled.

Ichigo drew his Zanpakutō as he walked through the hole. The prison he had broken into was crude, cramped, dirty, and damp. There were a total of two prison cells, both tiny, with hardly enough space to hold a single person. The total space of the entire prison couldn't even fit a guard as evidenced by the lack of guards. There was only room to walk.

Ichigo walked to the first prison cell and peered through the darkness. A small girl laid there as best as she could in the cramped cell. She had long, dirty auburn hair all twisted and tangled and caked with dirt and mud. She was clothed in a dirtied, single piece outfit hardly enough to cover her most private areas. Her wrists and ankles were chained with a metal that Ichigo identified to be Celestial Bronze. The walls and even the bars of the cell were made of Celestial Bronze.

The goddess cracked an eye open. It was difficult because her entire body ached with the nightly beatings Hyperion had ordered for her and her brother. Even though she had only been in Hyperion's palace for a few days, the abuse had already taken its toll on her young, malnourished body.

Normally, gods and goddesses had no need to consume food or drink, however, with the destruction of the Olympians' seats of power had left them weak. That destruction coupled with the loss of their domains had left them unable to sustain themselves through purely godly power. This, in turn, left them far weaker than they normally would have been even with the loss of their seats of power. They had all returned to their base forms which usually was their favorite form. They had also begun having to actually consuming food and drink to sustain themselves. They were still gods, just gods that had to rely on the mortal means to sustain themselves because they had lost both their seats of power and their domains.

Artemis groaned internally as she saw her torturer for the night. She actually cringed at his visage. He had a fearsome face, completely white except for two black strips going down each half of his face and through the jaw and eyes. His eyes were black with yellow pupils. Her torturer wore a strange black cloak and held a long, black sword in one of his hands.

Strangely enough, the torturer actually strapped his sword on his back and posed a question that left her befuddled and angry. "Yo! Are you Artemis?"

That question left her seeing red. It wasn't enough to torture her but he had to mock her too? She was angry and if she didn't need to conserve as much bodily flood as she possibly could, she would spit at him. "Do not mock me," she spoke with an icy venom tone. "Simply do what your master has ordered you to do and begone."

"My master? What the hell are you talking about? I'm here to rescue you." The man told her.

Artemis stared uncomprehendingly at the man. Then, it occurred to her that this was most likely a tactic Hyperion had ordered. To give her hope and then cruelly take it away from her. He wanted to break her. Well, Hyperion would soon discover that it would take far more to break her than simply offering her false hope. However, she would play along, if only to seize a chance to escape. She was a huntress through and through. She could patiently endure torture until her torturer let his guard down and then, then he would suffer just as she had.

With two hands grasped firmly on two bars of the jail cell, Ichigo pulled them apart with ease and created a gap through the bars that allowed him to easily walk into the cell.

Artemis stared at him. If he had enough power to bend Celestial Bronze bars, it would be more difficult than she had previously anticipated.

"Ah, I shouldn't have put my Zanpakutō away after all," Ichigo said as he drew his Zanpakutō to cut the chains binding Artemis to the cell. Almost immediately, Artemis felt a dull, small amount of power flow through her, the first she had felt in years though she was still attentive enough to her surroundings and supposed savior that she was curious at the odd name he had called his sword.

"Can you walk?" Artemis shook her head. She couldn't even sit up.

"All right then, guess I'll have to carry you," and before Artemis could protest, the man had sheathed his sword once more and quickly scooped her up, with her head rested against the crook of his shoulder and his arm holding her legs which were bent at the knees.

She wasn't particularly happy at being carried like a frail princess but the vantage point she gained allowed her to notice a few important aspects about her torturer. The first was that he possessed vivid, shoulder-length orange hair. The second was that he was wearing a mask of some sort. And the third was that he was human. Hyperion had never sent a human torturer before.

"Time to leave," Ichigo told Artemis as he walked out of the prison cell.

Artemis quickly spoke. She had been debating whether or not to mention her brother. On one hand, she might be subjecting him to torture as well. On the other hand, two gods had a better chance of escaping than one.

"My- my brother is in the next cell," she spoke hoarsely.

Ichigo nodded his acknowledgement as he headed over to Artemis's brother's cell.

"Which brother is it?" Ichigo asked as he transferred Artemis to his back so that he could pry open the bars of the next cell.

Artemis adjusted to having to hold her hands around his neck while also dealing with his sword strapped across his back. Her eyes narrowed slightly at his question. Was it possible that he had little knowledge of the hidden side of the world. There was only one person that she would refer to as her brother, her only blood brother, Apollo.

"Apollo," Artemis spoke slowly as her grip slowly tightened around his neck as he drew his sword to cut her brother's chains.

Was this where she was to be tortured this night? Tortured along with her brother in the same cell? Perhaps Hyperion had sent a human because humans had far more creativity than monsters could ever possess? A creativity that applied to many things- including torture.

Artemis let loose a breath of air against the back of Ichigo's neck as he sliced through the Celestial Bronze chains, freeing her brother.

Apollo was in the same condition as she, Artemis noted grimly. His blonde hair and body was matted in grime and ichor. He wore a smaller version of what she was wearing. His entire body bruised and purpled like her own. Brother. How could they hope to overpower the masked man in their respective conditions?

Artemis shifted to the left of the masked man's body as Apollo was thrown over his right shoulder.

"Anyone else you want me to rescue while we're here?" Ichigo asked Artemis. He genuinely wondered if any of those Adjuchas level presences he had sensed could be a minor god.

Artemis, however, did not share his line of curiosity. "No."

Ichigo mentally shrugged at the brusque tone before using Sonído to leave the prison.

Artemis gasped as she suddenly found herself floating in the night air. How was this possible? Only Hermes was capable of traveling miles in a single second and this man was, without a doubt, not Hermes. One reason being that he would never pick orange as a hair color after Apollo had pranked that one time.

She gasped again as she felt a near violent surge of power flooding through her veins. She was no longer bound by celestial bronze and thus, her power was no longer limited to simply sustaining her existence. However, she was still had no where near the monstrous power needed to rival the man in the mask carrying her and her brother.

Her silver eyes trailed upwards to the sky. It was a beautiful night, one filled with stars. She hadn't seen the stars in years. She wistfully traced the constellations with her eyes.

_There's the Hydra. And there's Corvus, that raven whose feathers Apollo changed from silvery-white to black for some stupid reason and later apologized by asking me to send the raven into the sky. Crater. Sextans. Virgo. So it's spring._

Her eyes moved towards the constellation of the Huntress, the newest constellation in the sky that Artemis had created only recently for her sorely missed, dearly departed Lieutenant, Zoë Nightshade. She nearly had a panic attack as she frantically searched the night sky for its latest constellation. She had made it so that it would always be visible no matter the season.

Before Artemis could reflect upon the missing status of her former Lieutenant's constellation, they began moving through the air like an arrow when they abruptly stopped.

"So." A chilling voice spoke, one that she had only heard once in the many days she had spent in the dungeon. Hyperion. "You're the one who destroyed half my palace."

Before Ichigo was a tall being. He had blonde hair, gold colored eyes, and an air of royalty and self-importance about him. He was dressed in blindingly gold armor and outfitted with a golden sword that shined like the sun on a particularly hot day.

"No," Ichigo tossed out nonchalantly as he began charging a cero from behind him. Artemis's eyes widened as she felt a strange power begin condensing into the shape of an orb.

Artemis twisted her head only to be nearly blinded as she witnessed the firing of the red orb in a controlled, quick stream of power, colliding unavoidably with its target. The remainder of Hyperion's palace.

The top of the mountain was reduced to nothingness and with it, the last vestiges of Hyperion's palace that had remained from Ichigo's initial assault.

"I destroyed all of it. Get it right, you ignorant asshole," Artemis stared wide-eyed at the man in the mask.

How is it possibly that this man is capable of reducing a mountaintop to nothing? What is he? Not a demigod for not even Perseus, a child of the Big Three, is capable of such casual obliteration. A god, perhaps? Artemis stared hard at the side of the man's mask. An anti-god then. _Even now, I cannot sense the full extent of his power_.

"You dare?!" Hyperion questioned furiously as he erased the distance between Hollowfied Shinigami and Titan in an instant and slashed in a wide arc.

The sword bifurcated Ichigo and Hyperion grinned victoriously, "Not so tough after all."

"Cero Oscuras."

Hyperion had no time to realized that what he had slashed was an afterimage before everything turned to black.

The Cero Oscuras hadn't killed Hyperion even after he had crashed into the mountaintop where his palace had formerly stood. Ichigo knew that without being in Bankai and then summoning his Hollow mask, the best the Cero Oscuras could do against an opponent with power enough to rival the older Captains in bankai was knock em' out for a minute or two.

Thankfully, that was more than enough time for Ichigo to make his escape with his two liberated prisoners.

Ichigo glanced at Artemis as he rapidly crossed the Appalachian mountain ranges with Sonído. As a son of a doctor, Ichigo was well-versed in medical knowledge. Having actually been studying to become a doctor before the war with Aizen began again, he knew even more than ever before.

So Ichigo could recognize that Artemis was horrendously sleep-deprived. There were dark bags under her bags and she appeared to be fighting to keep awake. Another glance out of the corner of his eyes told him that her silver eyes were darting to and fro, quickly and quietly gathering information about her surroundings.

Ichigo mentally chuckled. She's definitely smart but that isn't really necessary.

"_You would be the same if, for example, Tia had captured you during the first war,_" Zangetsu interrupted his wielder's musings.

Ichigo grinned underneath his mask as he finally arrived at the safe house. He quickly vanished his Hollow mask, reducing his reiatsu output to the level of a normal human.

Artemis had only a few seconds to stare at the human face before another event took all of her attention away. A glowing hand outlined in blue suddenly appeared before her and behind it, the man's head was turned to her, a small grin visible.

A whisper, "Tanma Otoshi," a glowing, white light emanating from the man's hand, and for Artemis, everything faded to black.

Ichigo entered the two-story cabin with a small grin on his face. He had been wanting to use that for a while now ever since Shinji had used it on him so many years ago. Actually, he wanted to used it on Shinji but he supposed that he would have to settle for the goddess.

"Everyone ready to leave?!" Ichigo shouted as he entered the living room.

In a flash, four girls surrounded him, all wielding weapons varying from a celestial bronze spear to twin silver knives.

"Oi, oi. Watch where you're all pointing your weapons. You don't want to accidentally stab our guests," Ichigo commented lightly as he narrowly avoided an instinctive thrust from Phoebe's silver dagger.

Zoë gasped as she quickly rushed forward to get a better look at the two gods in Ichigo's grasp. "Lady Artemis? Apollo?"

"Yeah, I told ya that I would help you with Artemis but there's no time for reunions right now," Ichigo turned to Calypso. "Hey, Calypso, do you think you could suppress the power of these two gods? I knocked out Hyp- the Lord of Light for a few minutes but he could be here just as fast with the power these two are leaking."

Calypso materialized two bracelets, both made of celestial bronze, and quickly put them on the left hands of both gods. Typically, these bracelets were used for new gods who wanted to visit the mortal world but were incapable of controlling their power. The bracelets worked perfectly for Artemis and Apollo, both of whom were regaining their power at an uncontrollable rate. The bracelets Calypso recreated from memory slowed that rate of both gods as well as reduce their current output of power to a human level.

Divine power was similar to reiatsu in the way that should enough of it be located in a single place and in an uncontrollable amount, it would eventually warp the environment round. However, godly power was different than reiatsu because while reiatsu would grant powers to inhabitants of a particular place, godly power would simply destroy the surrounding environment and all its inhabitants.

"Thanks, Calypso," Ichigo smiled at her before turning serious. "Everybody ready to leave? I want to get out of here before that bastard decides to come after us."

"Hold on!" Phoebe ordered. "We have to heal Lady Artemis before we go anywhere. And Apollo." The god would have complained about being an afterthought had he been conscious.

"No," Ichigo stressed deliberately. "We have to get the fuck out of here to save our hides before we can save the godly hides of Artemis and Apollo."

"I will not leave here until Artemis and Apollo are healed now!" Phoebe stamped her foot.

"Well, since I rescued them, technically, they're my prisoners now so that means, I get to decide what to do with them," Ichigo turned to his two traveling companions. "Calypso, Zoë, we're leaving."

"Y-you can't do that!" This time it was Thalia who protested.

"Watch me." Ichigo turned around and exited the building, Calypso hot on his heels.

"So, where's all our stuff?" Ichigo glanced quizzically at Calypso, who wasn't carrying anything. Now that he thought about it, none of the girls had been carrying anything when he had arrived with Artemis and Apollo.

"Pocket space," Calypso tapped the side of her left pocket on her pants. "My pockets are a lot larger on the inside and everything's a lot smaller so I can fit more things inside."

"Pretty great for traveling. Good job, Calypso," Ichigo complimented.

"Thanks, Ichigo," Calypso smiled before adding, "and I have all of Zoë's, Thalia's, and Phoebe's items so I know that they'll all be joining us in a minute or so. Well that, and their loyalty to Artemis."

Ichigo smirked at that tidbit of information. He wanted Thalia and Phoebe to accompany them because they knew more about this new world than any of the trio. They could possibly tell the trio the location of more of the gods as well as the fighting capabilities of the current rebellion faction and the Titans.

Ichigo took a deep breath. He wasn't really sure when he had decided to fight for the liberty of this world. Was it when he had first liberated Calypso from her island prison? When he had heard about how humanity was struggling to deal with constant monster invasions? Maybe it had been when he had promised Zoë that he would help her rescue Artemis?

Ichigo glanced out of the corner of his eyes as Zoë, Phoebe, and Thalia came walking out of the cabin, the former with a small, victorious smile and the latter two with frowns.

Ichigo glanced at Calypso before turning his gaze to Zoë. Perhaps it had been because of the two friends he had made in the year and three or four months he had been in this new world.

"We'll follow you...for now," Thalia told him flatly. "Zoë managed to convince us to stick with you guys for a while."

Ichigo listened to her with only one ear and narrowed his eyes as he sensed two presences approaching the five of them. One of them was Hyperion. The other being he sensed was one of the Adjuchas strength monsters. Both were coming from the sky.

"Here, Calypso, take Apollo," Ichigo carefully handed her the god before turning to Zoë and handing her Artemis. "And you take Artemis."

"Why are you giving us Artemis and Apollo, Ichigo?" Calypso asked curiously as she hefted Apollo over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

"Because I have to fight now. Get out of here. I'll find you guys later," Ichigo responded as he began gathering reiatsu from the enviornement to form his Quincy bow.

Normally, a Quincy would require a Quincy cross to act as a focus to create their Quincy bow from the reshi particles in the air. However, Quincies required crosses because humans weren't meant to naturally manipulate the surrounding reshi and their own reiatsu. Ichigo, on the other hand, was the son of a Shinigami, a being meant to manipulate reiatsu. So, one of the resulting effects of Ichigo's heritage was that he could summon a Quincy bow without the need of a focus like a Quincy cross.

Blue reshi gathered quickly on his right arm, his left arm holding his bow. His reiatsu combined with the reshi he had gathered, causing it to become denser and grow even quicker. It soon amassed to a level that Ichigo deemed to be sufficient enough to unleash one of the techniques Uryū had taught him.

"Licht Regen!"

All four girls could stare openmouthed and thunderstruck at the spectacle before them. An uncountable amount of arrows had shot from Ichigo's bow, filling the sky with the blue light of his arrows. So much of them were fired that they blotted out the stars and moon.

Two relatively close, loud screams of pain from the sky brought them back to reality.

"What the fuck...?" Thalia trailed off as she met Ichigo's brown eyes.

"You all still here? I didn't tell you to run because I thought you all could use the exercise. Don't make me repeat myself after this. Get the fuck out of here!" Ichigo roared.

Zoë took the initiative as she hefted Artemis over her shoulder. She nodded to Ichigo. "Stay safe."

Calypso followed closely behind. "Good luck, Ichigo."

Thalia and Phoebe fled wordlessly.

Ichigo laughed manically as he dispersed his Quincy bow and adopted his wartime mindset.

In short, Ichigo had two mindsets. His first was simply him being himself. Calm, relaxed, at ease and with his usual scowl and brashness. That was him as regular self. His second mindset had been born in the fires of war. He had to create it otherwise he would have gone insane years ago, slaying Hollows left and right and watching his friends and allies die.

This wartime mindset tapped into Shiro's lust for a good fight and combined it with his and Zangetsu's desire to protect. He was a little like Kenpachi in wanting a good fight though he wasn't about to hold back just for the sake of it. This mindset was what allowed him to cope with the constant carnage surrounding him in the Second Winter War and what made him into one of the strongest Shinigami in the entire history of the Soul Society.

Ichigo grinned as he watched the two beings, one humanlike and one snakelike, descend rapidly from the sky. He wasn't about to give them a chance to recover.

Ichigo pocketed his removed earring and drew his Zanpakutō before launching himself into the sky.

No. He had definitely decided to join this war to kick the ass of arrogant, godly assholes like Hyperion.

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch8~

**A/N:**

**Krazyfanfiction1: Haven't actually thought about that but I thought Kuroi Getsuga could sort of be a fusion of that since that attack comes about with the mixing of his Hollow and Shinigami reiatsu. Then again, Ichigo had never learned Cero when he first used that. As for his Shikai, well, you'll just have to wait and see.**

**Exanime Draco: Yeah, I might have messed up when describing Ichigo's unsealed Zanpakutō as a five foot long sword. Just attribute that to exaggeration and Ichigo's forgetfulness that he actually has an unreleased state now. So no, it isn't that big ass blade he killed that first Hollow with. For once, he's like a model Shinigami with an unreleased state, Shikai, and Bankai. His Zanpakutō's Shikai and Bankai will be after he had his own Asauchi formed by the creator of Zanpakutōs though I will be giving his Bankai additional techniques since the full extent of his new Bankai has yet to be revealed.**

**Guest on August 27th: No, his two Zanpakutō spirits will not merge with each other since I happen to like both of them. Maybe they'll merge with him? Who knows... (i do but no spoilers)!**

**I do not know when I will be updating The Eternal Victor.**

**Rockman7: Yep, newly forged but currently in an unreleased state. It might be a while, unfortunately, before Ichigo's newest Bankai abilities are revealed so I might just have to stick with my own creations if it isn't revealed before I decide for Ichigo to go Bankai. Don't worry, they'll technically be related to his current abilities or Zanpakutō name. I think. And thanks!**

**Thank you, dear readers, for all your wonderful comments, advice, and rather interesting theories.**

** As always,**

** Thanks for reading! **


	9. Strawberry v Lord of Light

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch9~

The two of them had traveled quickly after Hyperion had recovered from the devastating, black energy attack that had truly devastated the tall mountain and had knocked Hyperion unconscious for several minutes. Kampê shuddered as she recalled both the red energy attack that had finished obliterating Hyperion's grand palace and the subsequent black energy attack that had sheered off a third of the total size of the mountain. Whatever had attacked Hyperion was a powerful being. Doubtless, any of the Olympians at full stength, especially the Big Three, or any members of the Titan Council, including Typhon, were more than capable of destroying more than a third of a mountain, but to have knocked Hyperion unconscious was no easy feat.

She had been the only creature both quick enough and intelligent enough to have escaped that second, devastating energy blast. And, unfortunately, that also meant that she had been the only monster remaining to assist Hyperion in his fury-fueled chase to hunt down the man that had dared to destroy his palace and liberate his prisoners. Kampe took a glance at the Titan of Light flying through the sky alongside her. The amount of divine power radiating from him was simply overwhelming. Though she feared no creature, no being, even she was struggling to support herself in the sky underneath the pressure of the Titan's power.

It was not difficult to track the man that injured Hyperion. Though his power and presence was hidden from even her excellent detection technique, the power growing from within the gods, Artemis and Apollo, was easily detectable. It was far too easy to track the gods and their rescuer. When the former prisoners had stopped moving, Kampê had smirked. Even when their power output had been concealed beyond her detection, she had still kept that smirk on her reptilian face. They would not be able to flee before Hyperion and she were upon them, slashing throats, poisoning gods, and feeling the heart of that damned liberator that had dared to go against both Lord Hyperion and she, Kampê, the jailor of the Titans, and had thought that he could escape without consequences, without retribution. How arrogant.

She let loose a small, manical laugh. They were nearly upon them. Only a few more minutes. The woods had broken into a clearing, and within that clearing, stood a two-story cabin, and in front of that cabin, two figures, only of which she recognized as the liberator of the gods.

But, it appeared he was ready for them for he held within his two hands a glowing, blue bow.

The words he uttered were unrecognizable to her, "Licht Regen!"

She had only a moment to see the light of hundreds of arrows whistling through the air at both she and Hyperion before she felt it. Several of the strange, blue arrows piercing her reptilian scales. And then, she had felt unimaginable pain. Unrelenting agony. How was this possible? Her scales, tested and tried throughout millienia, was capable of deflecting arrows made of any metal. But these arrows, they pierced her scales like a knife to butter! An impossible feat for any mere arrow! And yet, she felt pain.

Kampê immediately shut her wings, folding them around her body, and immediately diving down to the earth in the opposite direction, far away from the man with the bow. She crashed down to the earth harshly, gathering small scratches on her wings from the branches of trees. She landed painfully, perhaps one or two bones broken because of her fall.

However, she cared not about the pain her broken bones inflicted because, for the first time, she was ablaze in agony. Never before had she felt pain like this! It was as if her very essence was slowly dying from a poison! Never had her very essence been in pain in the few times she had died. Her first death at the hands of Zeus and his weapon, the Master Bolt, had been painful to her physical body but never to her core. Even her most recent death by that fool-hardy, weak-willed Hundred Handed One, Briares, had never even tingled her essence.

A moment of thought made her widen her eyes in realization before she begun the immense physical task before her. She slowly lifted her clawed hand and grasped a blue arrow that was imbedded in her stomach. With a muffled scream of pain, she slowly began the ardous task of pulling out the several arrows from her body before she succumbed to the whispers of true oblivion.

…

"Okay," Thalia halted in her tracked, causing her companions, Calypso, Zoe, and Phobe to mimic her action. She rounded on her heels, facing Calypso and Zoe with a determined expression on her face. Her curiosity had far surpassed her survival instinct in the short duration of their escape. "We're far enough."

"I don't think we are," Calypso offered hesitantly, glancing at the unconscious god over her shoulders before glancing in the distance where she could not make out either Ichigo or the two other figures that had chased him. "I've seen Ichigo's strength firsthand and it easily surpasses several of the gods. We aren't nearly far enough."

"I concur," Zoe said after making sure her Lady's ride upon her shoulder was as comfortable as possible. "Ichigo matches my own father in pure strength, perhaps surpassing him, and even then, he is still supressing far too much of his power."

Zoe continued. "Even if you do not believe me, the Lord of Light is a monster in his own right in terms of power. Even if the sun has yet to rise, he has more than enough power to devastate the land in a hundred mile radius at his full power. We are only ten miles out at the most. We must move further if we wish to escape the wrath of that Titan."

Thalia frowned. What Zoe said was true but she wanted answers and she wanted them now, not later. "Fine but first answer me this. Who is he? Artemis and Apollo combined can't put a quarter of that many arrows in the sky in the same space of time."

"His name is Ichigo Kurosaki," Calypso answered Thalia as she prepared tp run once more. "And he's the man that can do anything."

...

"Enough of this," Hyperion roared a few seconds after Kampê had fallen to the man's arrows. He waved a hand in front of him horizontally and a stream of red hot fire erupted from his palm, expanding rapidly and burning the remainder of arrows before they could reach him. "Begone!"

"Not bad," a voice above him said.

"What?" Hyperion turned his head upwards in alarm, only barely managing to bring up his golden sword in time to deflect the strike from above.

Hyperion took in his first, good look of the man who had destroyed his palace, slain his standing army single-handedly, and taken his prisoners. His appearance would forever be engraved in his memory. Tall and wearing a long, unfamiliar black cloak of some sort that covered his entire body. The strangest oddity was his shoulder length orange hair accompanied by brown eyes filled with strength and determination, and a small, seemingly permanent scowl.

This was the man he hated, even more so than that bastard son of Poseidon, Perseus Jackson. This was the man that had taken everything away from him after he already achieved his rightful rule of the East! This was the man that he would kill for daring to go against him.

The man disappeared from his view. Hyperion's eyes barely had time to widen in surprise before his left cheek met the force of his punch. Hyperion was sent sailing with a collision course to the earth before he managed to right himself in the sky. A small, purple bruise began forming on his cheek.

"The fissure," Ichigo muttered, Hyperion only managing to hear him because of the lack of all other noise save the whistling of the wind among the trees and the small draft of air in the sky. Hyperion's pain suddenly intensified, "or so Kenpachi calls his punch."

Hyperion raised his hand and roared unintelligibly. Concentrated balls of fire began firing from his palm like a machine gun, all aimed in his opponent's vicinity.

"Hado 58: Tenran!" His opponent called out in a calm, steady voice with an outstretched hand facing the incoming fireballs.

A localized whirlwind appeared at the end of his strange incantation, repelling the Titan's many fireballs back at Hyperion. He allowed his own fireballs to hit him, knowing full well that being the Titan of Light, he was unaffected by any light based attacks such as fire.

Hyperion narrowed his eyes in thought as his own fireballs struck him. Then, why did that man's arrows and strange energy attack called a Cero Oscuras, affect him? He recalled the sensation he felt at the moment of impact of both attacks. Ah. Those attacks were not light based but based off a different energy source. Different and unfamiliar.

Hyperion's dominion over light allowed him to manipulate light particles. By manipulating these particles to gather under his feet, he was capable of walking on any surface whether it be water, such as when he did during the Battle of Manhattan, upright on trees, or float in the air. He did so now, floating upwards and leveling with Ichigo's height.

"Interesting," Hyperion mused aloud, enjoying his opponent's momentarily confused expression. "Energy attacks. Arrows. And now, a wind based power. I wonder which god you are descended from or perhaps, you are a god yourself with that much power at your command."

Hyperion adopted a vengeful expression, golden eyes brimming with anger and teeth bared furiously. "No matter. I suppose someone will miss you when you die because I certainly will not."

The man disappeared from Hyperion's view but this time, Hyperion was ready for him. His enemy's speed was great but he was the Titan of Light. He could move at the speed of light, a speed that far outstripped his opponent's pitiful speed. Like his opponent, Hyperion too, vanished.

A blindingly quick exchange of blows occurred in a single moment, before both fighters reappeared. Ichigo's shihakushō was torn in several places where Hyperion had been far too quick with his sword strikes. A thin line appeared below his eye, letting blood to trail down his cheek.

Hyperion, however, did not remain unscathed in the bout of blows. Despite being the quicker of the two fighters, Ichigo had reflexes that were beyond belief. No matter how many times the Titan had managed to strike him shallowly, his opponent had returned the favor each time. Hyperion's armor was scratched an equal many times as his opponent's clothing and a long, thin gash trailing down his unprotected hand, leaking trace amounts of blood.

The two spun simultaneously, Ichigo smirked as he took notice of the small scratch on the Titan's arm he had managed to return for the scratch on his own cheek.

Hyperion scowled angrily at the result. He was the absolute fastest being in existence. Not even his great-nephew Hermes, said to be among the fastest of the gods, could match him in speed. He quite literally moved at the speed of light, not only his foot speed but all his limbs, including his arms, which allowed for quicker strokes of his blade.

And yet, he had been unable to manage any decisive blow against his most hated enemy. A single scratch and tears in his clothes had been all he could manage in a light-speed bout lasting only a minute. It was frustrating.

What to use next? Ah, that technique would be perfect and quick enough that it would be impossible for his enemy to avoid based on his current level of speed.

...

_Damn, he's pretty quick. Faster than Yoruichi for sure, and a lot faster than me even in Bankai but with one of the powers my Bankai possesses, I could easily stop him in his tracks._

A memory came to him for a fleeting second as Ichigo contemplated using Bankai.

_"You truly are an idiot, Kurosaki Ichigo," a voice spoke from behind him as he reclaimed his Zanpakutō from the body of a now dead Adjuchas._

_"What?" Ichigo demanded, spinning around to meet the calm facade of Kuchiki Byakuya with his own passionate eyes._

_"There was no need to use your Bankai for a simple Adjuchas Hollow. Your unreleased Zanpakutō would have been more than enough to deal with a small threat," Byakuya answered._

_Ichigo shrugged at him as they walked side-by-side to their closest temporary base in Hueco Mundo. "What can I say? My Zanpakutō spirit wants to fight at full strength."_

_Byakuya raised an eyebrow. "Your Zanpakutō spirit?"_

_Ichigo shrugged again. "My Hollow self is my main Zanpakutō spirit. Zangetsu is the name of the manifestation of Quincy powers."_

_"When you enter your Bankai, you call out the name of your Quincy spirit?" Byakuya asked, puzzled._

_"He used to suppress my Hollow self so that the bastard wouldn't possess me. I've known him so long as Zangetsu that I still call him," Ichigo explained. "Besides, he likes that name."_

_Unable to squash his curiosity, Byakuya wondered, "Then what do you call your Hollow spirit?"_

_"Shiro."_

_Byakuya shot him an incredulous look._

_"Imagine a person with my exact characteristics only with white clothing, skin, and hair and yellow eyes."_

_"I see." Byakuya composed himself. "In any case, refrain from using your Bankai except in the most dire of cases."_

_"Why?"_

_"Before the Winter War, the only time any of us had used Bankai was when we had achieved it or when we were training with it in an isolated location," Byakuya said. "Bankai should only be used when there is no other option, a last resort. What you are doing, killing a Hollow far weaker than yourself in an unreleased state with your Bankai is tantamount to overkill."_

_"My Bankai works differently, Byakuya," Byakuya stared daggers at Ichigo for using his first name. "Rather than having some huge effect, it compresses my reiatsu, letting me use it longer in battle."_

_Byakuya sighed. "You truly are an idiot. I wonder what you worked on when you kidnapped your various instructors. Obviously, not your Bankai."_

_"What the hell are you talking about, ya bastard? Stop beating around the bush and get to the point already!"_

_Byakuya let loose an exasperated sigh. "Did you honestly believe that simple compression and your favorite technique, the Getsuga Tenshō, were the only techniques available to your Bankai? I will reiterate, you truly are an idiot. Those two are simply the starting techniques of your Bankai. It is up to you and your Zanpakutō spirit to discover or create the remainder of whatever techniques you desire."_

_Byakuya walked past a gaping Ichigo, smiling at the bombshell he had let loose upon his naive friend, going so far as to chuckle when his brash, orange-haired comrade yelled out, "I'M GONNA KILL YOU KISUKE!"_

Ichigo smiled as the memory faded for the time being. Contrary to Byakuya's suggestion, he had actually used Bankai even more often so that he could start discovering more techniques for his Bankai. Against real opponents, it was an enlightening experience, attempting to create battle-ready techniques on the fly while discovering hidden ones.

And, it was the exact same for his Shikai as well.

He had learned though and put it to good use in this world. He hadn't once revealed his Bankai in this world and he had no plans to unless it was absolutely needed.

Byakuya would be proud of him.

"Well then," Ichigo adopted a serious expression. "That was a good warm up. It's about time we start the main event. Shikai!"

He tossed up his thin Zanpakutō and when it had descended once again, he had to use both his hands to grasp the two blades that had emerged from his single blade.

The first blade, in the shape of khyber knife, was held in his right hand. It was the larger of the two blades, completely black, and unlike his former, false Zanpakutō, it actually had a small hilt that separated handle and blade. The handle was wrapped in white cloth that appeared to elongate and retract with but a thought. A thin, hollowed-out portion ran along the back edge from the base towards the middle of the blade. This blade was the manifestation of both his Hollow and Shinigami powers.

The second blade was smaller, roughly the size of Ichigo's arm. It resembled a trench knife and like its larger counterpart, was completely black and had white cloth wrapped around its handle. This blade was the manifestation of his Quincy powers.

Hyperion gazed upon the powered up being. His appearance hadn't much other than his orange hair being a little longer and his right brown eye turning yellow with black sclera. Hyperion scowled. Where did this monstrous energy come from?

Hyperion was startled out of his thoughts when Ichigo pointed his shorter blade horizontally at the Titan. "Dodge this. Klavier!"

Immediately, one by one, Heilig Pfeil arrows shot out from his small blade. So distracted by the sheer magnitude of power casually released from Ichigo as if it were a fraction of his total power, Hyperion was hit by the first two arrows, however, once he realized the pain from the arrows striking at his very essence, he immediately strafed left, dodging every subsequent arrow with superhuman speed.

This was one of the powers of Ichigo's Shikai. The ability to utilize his Quincy and Hollow powers in conjunction with his Shinigami powers. And with all the Quincy techniques he had learned from Uryū when he had trained in the Dangai for the second time, being able to use his Quincy and Shinigami powers simultaneously was a useful skill.

Hyperion frowned as the river of arrows came to an end and he pulled out the two arrows imbedded in his stomach and they disappeared into a flash of particles. Why did that man's arrows hurt him so? The only time he had experienced such a similar pain in recent memory...was when Kronos had struck him with his scythe for being so pathetic as to get imprisoned in a tree by a bunch of satyrs and that damnable Perseus Jackson.

Hyperion's eyes widened in realization. His arrows hurt his soul, the very essence of his beings. Kronos's scythe could cut a soul into pieces but the man's arrows literally destroyed pieces of his soul. He would have to avoid the man's arrows at any cost.

Hyperion quickly bridged the distance between himself and Ichigo using his manipulation of light to speed himself up and in the blink of an eye, far faster than Ichigo could react even in his Shikai, slashed downwards with his golden sword at Ichigo's arm just below his shoulder. The arm holding the larger sword.

Unfortunately for Hyperion, something peculiar happened. At the moment just as Hyperion's sword made contact with Ichigo's arm, his arm began glowing a vibrant, blue pattern just underneath his skin, spreading throughout all his arm and shoulder, stopping Hyperion's sword from ever piercing his flesh.

"The Blut Vene," Ichigo murmured as he counterattacked with his smaller sword, leaving a deep gouge upon Hyperion's armor before he had the sense to pull away from his disbelief long enough to move away.

"What?" Hyperion growled at the boy's apparent invincibility. "No god has that many powers! What are you, boy?!"

Ichigo smirked as Hyperion's question left him open to attack. He raised his larger blade, and from the opening within the middle of the blade, charged up a Cero.

Hyperion roared as he witnessed the blade begin glowing red before stretching out a palm and let loose a blindingly brilliant light that caused Ichigo to close his eyes and force his charging Cero to disperse.

"You think you're invincible, boy?! I'll kill you and then I'll find those wretched friends of yours, torture them, and imprison them, left to rot and be tortured for all eternity! I'll kill you and make your friends suffer for DARING TO GO AGAINST ME! Now die!" Hyperion bellowed as he charged Ichigo with a sword now on fire.

He hacked and slashed at Ichigo, burning Ichigo's flesh despite his Blut Vene. Blut Vene defended against against cuts but not against tearing, electrocution as he remembered when he went against Candice Catnipp's eletrical techniques, or burns as he now knew.

Ichigo had never been blinded before. It was a new experience, not being able to see. Not even his impressive reiatsu detecting techniques were of any use. It was used better for detecting suppressed power or for making sure his friends and family were okay, not for fighting in closed distances against swift opponents quick with a sword.

It was only his reactions that allowed him to dish out punishment an equal amount of times, if a lot less severe than the burns he received from Hyperion's flaming sword. He would have to rectify his fighting style to include blindness. Normally, he wouldn't have worried since his Hollow powers included instant regeneration but temporary blindness that burned his eyes was something he hadn't thought of.

Oh wait.

He could probably just gouge out his eyes and new ones would regenerate immediately. He grunted as more burns appeared on his legs, arms, and torso.

But he liked his eyes. They were the ones he was born with and he had seen a lot with his eyes. So he would wait until his blindness faded away so that he could finally mount his offensive.

Or just start spamming Ceros in any and every direction. They were far enough away from civilization that he could do that without any lasting consequences...except on nature.

_Oh wait. Wasn't that Artemis chick a nature goddess or something? Don't need to give her another reason to hate me. Guess I'll just wait._

Finally, his blindness began fading. Hyperion seemed to realized this because he quickly disengaged from Ichigo and moved quickly away.

Ichigo cracked his neck. "So that's the way you fight, huh? Can't even fight properly unless you've blinded a guy? Well, now it's my turn."

To Hyperion's horror, Ichigo pushed a darker version of his strange energy and all the burns he had inflicted upon his enemy slowly began healing. Ichigo closed the distance between himself and the tired Titan, and tapped him in the chest with the pommel of his small blade currently glowing with his usual blue reiatsu.

A bemused expression was all Hyperion could manage as Ichigo called out, "_A silver rod strikes the five-fingered stone bed- Gritz!"_

Immediately, five, thick tendrils of blue reiatsu spread from the pommel of his smaller blade in five directions, turning silver before enclosing Hyperion in a human sized, rectangular round shaped, silver prison with a design of three lines going in five separate directions with only a small pentagon binding the lines together at the center.

_What? What is this? Why can't I move?_ Hyperion struggled to free himself but was unable to move a muscle. His last assault on Ichigo had taken a toll on his physical endurance and now, he was tired, far too tired compared to his fresh opponent who possessed no wounds.

Gritz was an imprisonment technique, typically used for immobilizing strong Hollows and sapping their strength so that a Shinigami could come to finish them off. In this case, it was used to immobilize and sap the power of an already tired Titan.

A thought struck him. The sun! It was supposed to be coming up soon! Well, it would had he not been occupied dealing with his enemy. But Phoebe, she could take his chariot so that the sun would rise earlier today.

Being the Titan of Light, the sun gave him strength. Coupled with being in the east in the current location of western civilization, his power easily surpassed Atlas and matched Kronos at full strength. Yes, that's what he would do.

"_Phoebe, I need you to take the dayshift for the day_," Hyperion paused, his pride demanding that he tell no one about his current fight or the fact that he was currently losing. "_I'm occupied at the moment...playing with Artemis_."

"_Get someone else to do it! I just finished the nightshift. Why don't you just put it on automatic? That's a feature now, Hyperion_," Phoebe growled back. "_And I don't want to hear about you forcing yourself on a goddess. I'm not interested. Don't talk to me again about stupid things!_"

Mental communication was easy to do. Dealing with Phoebe was not.

Hyperion growled in frustration. The combined factors of his tiredness and the silver prison he was in was somehow sapping his strength had interfered with his reasoning. His energy was far lower than he would have liked to take on whatever the man was.

A mental thought was all that was needed for his chariot to speed into the sky. Luckily, it was on its own platform away from his destroyed palace.

Ichigo looked to the east, where the sun slowly began to rise over the horizon.

"Huh, I guess I've been here longer than I thought," Ichigo spoke to himself. "Guess it's about time I finish this."

With his longer blade, he began charging a Cero within the hollow part of his blade. Red reiatsu began glowing all around his sword. "Cero!"

A brilliant, red stream of reiatsu burst from his blade towards Hyperion, quickly engulfing the silver prison he was entombed in. However, at that exact moment, Hyperion burst from his prison in a blaze of fire and glory. A single stroke of his flaming blade split that Cero in two.

Damn, I thought that Cero would end him. Guess he caught a second wind.

"I am the Lord of Light and Titan of the East! This mean that you're a dead man!" Hyperion roared, moving at light speed to get around Ichigo before launching a column of fire at him.

Ichigo strafed right, avoiding the entirity of the fire with ease before blocking Hyperion's ragged, tired blow with his smaller blade and wounding his leg deeply with his larger blade.

Ichigo frowned. Yes, Hyperion had gotten a lot of his power but he was still tired. Each of his sword strikes were weak, lacking both power and precision. Lacking the skill he had had earlier on in the fight. Hyperion was tired but he wouldn't go down without a fight.

_Where did his power boost come from_? If Ichigo could shut down the origin of his power boost, he could quickly end this fight. Ichigo glanced towards the east again, the sun much higher in the sky.

_Of course! The sun! Didn't that old man tell me a few months ago that Hyperion drove the sun during the day? So, if I stop the sun's rays from hitting him, he'll get weaker. But how?_ A thought soon struck him that made him grin uncontrollably. _Well, that could work._

"_Seeping crest of turbidity! Arrogant vessel of lunacy!_" Ichigo began the incantation.

Hyperion looked confused but as long as the orange haired man was spouting out a bunch of nonsense, he decided that he would take the reprieve.

"_Boil forth and deny! Grow number and flicker! Disrupt sleep! Crawling queen of iron! Eternally self-destructing doll of mud!_" Ichigo sheathed his smaller sword and held out a palm, glowing with purple reiatsu. "_Unite! Repulse! Fill with soil and know your own powerlessness!"_

Hyperion moved leftwards rapidly but with his tiredness, it was far too late for him. Ichigo had uttered the entire incantation which meant that the Kidō spell would be a lot stronger.

"_Hadō 90: Kurohitsugi!_"

The sky darkened before the outline of a purple, rectangular prism appeared, forcing Hyperion into immobilization with the force of gravity it emitted. The prism soon took on a black color and hundreds of black spears began forming. They all imbedded themselves within the rectangular prism, causing Hyperion to scream out in agony as his power slowly faded from being cutoff from sunlight and the spears began piercing his flesh.

Long, agonizing minutes later, the rectangular prism faded from view and left only a bloodied Hyperion falling to the earth.

Ichigo followed closely behind, soon coming upon Hyperion struggling to his feet with the help of his sword. He panted heavily, slowly facing his executioner. Nothing but acceptance shone in his eyes. This was a warrior simply better than him though his pride said otherwise.

"I won't beg for mercy," Hyperion told him as firmly as he could manage.

"Threatening my friends," Ichigo said as he walked slowly towards the Titan, his larger blade held just above his left shoulder. "You won't get it."

Not a word more was spoken as Ichigo calmly and efficiently beheaded the Titan in one stroke. The Titan's head rolled before coming to a stop at Ichigo's feet, eyes closed. His body fell forward before slowly dissolving into golden dust. His head followed a moment later. Only his golden sword remained.

Ichigo let loose a sigh as he reduced his reiatsu output to an unsealed state before reaching into his pocket and putting his earring back on. His Zanpakutō returned to its place behind his back once he had returned to an unsealed state.

"_That wasn't a bad fight, huh Shiro?_"

Shiro huffed. "_You should have used me some more, King!_"

Ichigo chuckled as he grabbed Hyperion's sword from the dirt and placed it alongside his Zanpakutō behind his back. Maybe someone would find some use for it? "_Well, at least we know how strong a Titan is. Captain class for sure but nothing my Shikai can't handle."_

"_Never underestimate your opponent's Ichigo_," Zangetsu cautioned. "_You wouldn't not say that any of the Arrancars are weak simply because Hollows that have not evolved yet exist. In any case, well done. You have grown stronger."_

"_I know, I know, but Calypso told me that Hyperion was one of the stronger Titans. So, I shouldn't be too off in my assessment_," Ichigo explained. "_And thanks_."

"_As long as I get some fighting time, I don't care who we fight_!" Shiro exclaimed loudly.

"_Just like Kenpachi,_" Ichigo muttered as he began searching for the familiar energy of Calypso and Zoë.

A hundred miles out, he found them, their signatures unmoving.

That's good, Ichigo thought as he began Shunpoing to their location. It shouldn't take too long to get there but I guess I'll end up playing doctor with Calypso for a while.

~Bleach/PJO A7 Ch9~

A/N:

Krazyfanfiction1: Hopefully this answered your questions and no, I haven't played that game before.

Dp11: Yeah, Yamamoto's Bankai is awesome! It should have incinerated Yhwach out of existence, Blut Vene or not.

Xuan Tian Shang Ti: Yep, Quincy techniques with the Quincy blade basically acting as both a focus (like a Quincy cross without detrimental effects and as a Gintō. I don't know what you mean by "a meters" but I do also recall that satyrs don't have souls and their instead reincarnated. Don't think I'll have Ichigo killing any satyrs though. I didn't really mean anything by anti-god except to refer to Artemis's inability to sense Ichigo's power. Gods exert a lot of power while their rescuer doesn't really exhibit any power except when attack or not wearing his earring.

Rockman7: Yep, sneak attack and general unpreparedness for someone daring to attack the Lord of Light and Titan of the East, a god amongst inferior ants though he probably should have seen it coming considering Ichigo destroyed his palace.

So, hopefully you all liked the fight scene and if not, well that's the general extent of my description unless you all want me to describe each time swords are clashed. It was pretty fun to write.

As always,

Thanks for reading!


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